Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Jun 21;10(6):e5953.
doi: 10.1002/ccr3.5953. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Surgical excision of complex lipoma from the foot: A case report

Akram Uddin  1   2 , George Flanagan  1 , Ian Reilly  1   3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Surgical excision of complex lipoma from the foot: A case report

Akram Uddin et al. Clin Case Rep. .

Abstract

Malignant soft tissue tumors of the foot and ankle are rare but diagnostic imaging and/or interventional biopsy are vital to establish the nature and grading of a suspicious tumor prior to definitive surgical intervention. The purpose of the study is to provide an account on how a symptomatic mass of the plantar aspect of the foot warranted a referral to a sarcoma center, highlighting the importance of having access to diagnostic imaging and a pathway to refer suspected cases to specialist centers. A single patient with a symptomatic soft tissue tumor of the plantar foot was referred from our service to the regional sarcoma center who considered to be benign, and therefore, open surgical resection was performed by our team. Histopathological analysis identified the excised mass as a lipoma. At 2 years, postoperatively there was no recurrence, and the patient presented with an asymptomatic foot. United Kingdom (UK) guidelines suggest that all soft tissue masses of suspicious nature, greater than 50 mm, deep seated irrespective of size, or fast growing lesions should be referred to a sarcoma unit prior to surgical management. European guidance identifies a threshold of 15 mm for a mass in the foot. Patients presenting with red flag symptoms irrespective of size of mass should be referred to a sarcoma center. Advanced imaging and multidisciplinary input to enable appropriate surgical planning is recommended for suspicious soft tissue tumors that present to the foot and ankle surgeon.

Keywords: benign tumor; core needle biopsy; fine‐needle aspiration; lipoma; liposarcoma; malignant tumor; soft tissue tumor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors have no competing interests to declare. Further data are available from the authors on reasonable request.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Pre‐operative MRI images
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Pre‐operative MRI images
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Pre‐operative MRI images
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
East Midlands Sarcoma Service referral (East Midlands Sarcoma Service)
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Surgical excision (intra‐operative)
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Surgical excision (intra‐operative)
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Excised mass
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Wound closure
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
4 weeks post‐surgery: aseptic seroma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Azam A, Rajagopalan S, Niezywinski WA. A rapidly expanding massive lipoma of the toe. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2007;46(6):499‐501. doi:10.1053/j.jfas.2007.06.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sitarz R, Skierucha M, Jazienicki M, et al. Lipomas ‐ a health condition that cannot be ignored. Fam Med Prim Care Rev. 2016;4(4):473‐476. doi:10.5114/fmpcr.2016.63704 - DOI
    1. Swarnkar M, Jain SC. Web space lipoma causing separation of toes ‐ a rare case report with review of literature. J Krishna Inst Med Sci Univ. 2017;6(2):107‐110.
    1. Derin AT, Yaprak N. Lipomas: review and evaluation of the literature. Clin Surg. 2015;2(1615):1‐2.
    1. Su CH, Hung JK, Chang IL. Surgical treatment of intramuscular, infiltrating lipoma. Int Surg. 2011;96(1):56‐59. doi:10.9738/1396.1 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources