This is a study of 14 cases of carcinoma and one case of sarcoma arising in burn scars. These 15 patients were seen in the Department of General Surgery at Chon Ju Presbyterian Medical Center during the past 8 years, from January 1963 to March 1971.
The sarcoma was a Kaposi’s sarcoma which developed in occipito-parietal region of the scalp.
A review of the 14 cases of carcinoma (Marjolin’s ulcer) revealed the following information:
1. The location was most frequently on the lower extremity (71.4%), followed by the scalp and trunk, 14.2% respectively.
2. No tumors developed in burns of the face and upper extremity.
3. All of the carcinoma were squamous cell, nine of them of basal cell.
4. Mean age at the time of diagnosis was 45 years and the average time from burn to pathological diagnosis was 36 years.
5. The male sex was most frequently affected, 85.7% occurring in men. The occupational incidence was farming in 12 of the 14 cases, suggesting that poor economic level, chronic trauma from heavy work and exposure to sun-light may be factors.
6. Marjolin’s ulcer developed in 6.01% of all burned patients admitted to our hospital from 1964 to 1971.
7. Four cases showed abnormal bone change or destruction on radiogram, two cases involving the skull and two cases involving the long bones of the leg.
8. There was only one case of distant metastasis secondary to a primary carcinoma arising in a sacral burn.
9. Of 10 cases who had treatment at Presbyterian Medical Center, Chon Ju, four cases died of wide metastasis and 6 cases are living well from 10 months to 8 years with no evidence of recurrence.
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