Marjolinʹʹs ulcer: clinical and pathologic features of 83 cases and review of literature

Background: Marjolinʹs ulcer is a rare, aggressive condition that arises on chronic skin lesions and diseases. In this article, we will report 83 cases of this disease. Methods: Retrospectively, we retrieved 83 records of patients with cancer arising from chronic skin conditions. Data concerning demography, type of original skin insult, time interval between original lesion and cancer, can-cer histology, and lymph node involvement were recorded. Results: The mean age was 55.30 years (range: 21-90). There were 51 males (61.5%) and 32 females (38.5%). Foot was the most prevalent site of primary skin lesion (49.4%) followed by scalp (15.6%). Original skin insults were burn (87.9%), osteomyelitis (2.4%), radiation (2.4%), electrical burn (1.2%), surgical scar (2.4%), pemphi-gus (1.2%), bite (1.2%), and bed sore (1.2%). Histologic diagnosis were well differentiated SCC (38.6%), SCC, differentiation not reported (24.1%), moderately differentiated SCC (13.2%), BCC (9.6%), poorly differentiated SCC (6.0%), melanoma (2.4%), verrucous carcinoma (2.4%), MFH (1.2%), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (1.2%), and leiomyosarcoma (1.2%). Most of the cases occurred more than 20 years after the initial skin insult. There were 6 (7.2%) cases that developed within 1 year (acute Marjolinʹs Ulcer). Forty three patients (69.3%) had pal-pable regional lymph nodes. Conclusion: Data in this series were in confirmation with many other reports. Marjolnʹs ulcer should be consid-ered as a significant post-skin injury complication.