Martorell's hypertensive leg ulcer: case report and concise review of the literature

Abstract

Hypertensive leg ulcers (Martorell's ulcers) are a unique form of lower extremity ischaemic leg ulcer. First described by Martorell, and Hines and Farber in the 1940s, these ulcers are defined by pain disproportionate to the size of the ulcer, specific location on the lower extremity, female-to-male predominance, association with long-standing, often poorly, controlled hypertension, and healing response to specific antihypertensive agents. We present a case of Martorell's hypertensive ischaemic leg ulcer and a concise review of the 104 previous cases in the world's English literature. Hypertensive ischaemic leg ulcers will be more commonly recognised with a renewed appreciation of the existence of this clinical entity.