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
. 2023 Aug 15;13(4):182-184.
eCollection 2023.

Rapid development of squamous cell carcinoma at a split-thickness skin graft donor site

Andrew P Bain  1 , Kareem R AbdelFattah  1 , Audra T Clark  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Rapid development of squamous cell carcinoma at a split-thickness skin graft donor site

Andrew P Bain et al. Int J Burns Trauma. .

Abstract

The development of a Marjolin ulcer at the site of a split-thickness skin graft donor site is exceptionally rare. Here we describe the rapid development of squamous cell carcinoma at a split-thickness skin graft donor site in the setting of severe burn. We present a case of a 52-year-old male with no past medical history who presented with a 24% total body surface area burn caused by a flash flame. Four months after his initial excision and grafting, he presented for revision of a burn scar with an additional complaint of a rapidly developing skin lesion at his donor site, which arose over 2 weeks. The lesion was excised en bloc and found to be invasive squamous cell carcinoma. There are 5 previous cases of squamous cell carcinoma development at the site of split-thickness skin harvest in the setting of severe burn. While the typical Marjolin ulcer has a latency period of up to 30 years, lesions that arise in split-thickness skin graft donor sites appear to have a rapid onset of weeks to months. Squamous cell carcinoma at the site of split-thickness skin grafting is an uncommon but important sequelae of burn care.

Keywords: Squamous cell carcinoma; burn; donor site.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Right thigh squamous cell carcinoma at inferior edge of split-thickness skin graft donor site.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sharma A, Schwartz RA, Swan KG. Marjolin’s warty ulcer. J Surg Oncol. 2011;103:193–195. - PubMed
    1. Kowal-Vern A, Criswell BK. Burn scar neoplasms: a literature review and statistical analysis. Burns. 2005;31:403–413. - PubMed
    1. Shah M, Crane JS. Marjolin ulcer. In: StatPearls [Internet] Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK5-32861/ - PubMed
    1. Haik J, Georgiou I, Farber N, Volkov A, Winkler E. Squamous cell carcinoma arising in a split-thickness skin graft donor site. Burns. 2008;34:891–893. - PubMed
    1. Hammond JS, Thomsen S, Ward CG. Scar carcinoma arising acutely in a skin graft donor site. J Trauma. 1987;27:681–683. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources