Postoperative Clinical and Functional Outcomes in Patients with Tumor and Tumor-like Lesion of Foot and Ankle

Abstract

Background Tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle are relatively rare and their postoperative clinical outcome has not been well reported. Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients who underwent excision of tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle from 2008 to 2020. Preoperative and postoperative clinical outcomes were evaluated by the Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot (JSSF) scales (pain, function, and alignment). Results We analyzed 117 consecutive patients. Bone lesions were 51 patients (benign: 45, intermediate malignancy: 1, malignant: 5), and soft tissue lesions were 66 patients (benign: 57, intermediate malignancy: 2, malignant: 7). Four patients (8%) with the bone tumor, and six (9%) with the soft tissue tumor resulted in recurrence. Eight (67%) patients with malignant lesions were alive continuously disease free and followed for a median of 50.5 (range: 18 to 82) months. Amputation at the first operation was done for five cases (33%) of malignant or intermediate malignancy. Postoperative JSSF scores resulted in significant increase (bone lesion, 75.9 ± 13.7 to 91.4 ± 14.9, p < 0.001; soft tissue lesion, 84.7 ± 14.8 to 91.9 ± 12.5, p < 0.001). The score improvement in bone lesions was significantly higher than in soft tissue lesions (p = 0.003). Conclusion Tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle showed good functional outcomes. Bone lesions exhibited better improvement than soft tissue lesions.