Impact of Disturbed Wound Healing after Surgery on the Prognosis of Marjolin’s Ulcer

• Main Authors: Jae Yeon Choi, Yong Chan Bae, Su Bong Nam, Seong Hwan Bae
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2013-05-01
• Series: Archives of Plastic Surgery
• Subjects: Carcinoma; squamous cell; Skin ulcer; Wound healing; Prognosis
• Online Access: http://e-aps.org/Synapse/Data/PDFData/2023APS/aps-40-198.pdf
• ISSN: 2234-6163; 2234-6171

Background  Marjolin’s ulcer is known to present a high proportion of recurrence and poorprognosis compared to other kinds of skin cancer. Based on our experience, Marjolin’s ulcerpatients who have received reconstructive surgery present a higher proportion of recurrencewhen therewas disturbedwound healing aftersurgery. The impact of disturbedwound healingaftersurgery on the prognosiswas examined in thisstudy.Methods  A retrospective study was carried out on 26 patients who were diagnosed withMarjolin’s ulcer and received surgery in this hospital from 1996 to 2011. Histologic grading,lymph node metastasis at diagnosis, and thewound healing processwere evaluated and chisquared analysis applied in orderto determine the correlationwith recurrence.Results  The proportion of recurrence increases in patients with a low histologic grade orlymph node metastasis at diagnosis. The proportion of recurrence is even higher when theproblemoccurs during thewound healing process aftersurgery.Conclusions  Disturbedwound healing aftersurgery could be used as a sign to quickly identifythe recurrence of carcinoma. Therefore, in the event a problem occurs in the wound healingprocess after surgery, one should keep in mind that this could be a sign of the possibility ofrecurrence and proceed with careful observation and active diagnosis through additionalphysical examinations, general X-ray tests, computed tomographys,magnetic resonance imagings, and so on,to obtain an early diagnosis ofrecurrence.