Clinical Challenges in Resection and Reconstruction of a Verrucous Carcinoma of the Right Calcaneus With a Medial Plantar Artery Perforator Flap: A Case Report

A verrucous carcinoma is a rare, low-grade variant of a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). It frequently occurs in Caucasian males aged 50 to 60. The tumour is locally destructive, grows into muscle, nerves and bones, but rarely metastasizes. Here we report a patient with verrucous carcinoma on the right calcaneus with the uncommon symptom of a haemorrhagic plaque at the centre and also an exophytic component. A 52-year-old man presented with a 10-year-old, progressive, painful, pruritic, exophytic growing, hyperkeratotic and haemorrhagic plaque of 5.2 x 3.5cm on the right calcaneus. The lesion emerged after extensive burns after blast trauma as a child. Excisional biopsy with 2mm margin in combination with clinical presentation favoured a verrucous carcinoma. The pathology report showed that the tumour was not excised radically; therefore, re-excision with 5mm margin was required and was performed two months later. The wound was closed with a medial plantar artery perforator (MPAP) flap. The donor site was closed with a full-thickness skin graft (FTSG) from the medial side of the right upper leg and was covered by a tie-over bandage. Verrucous carcinoma is a rare tumour and can be adequately surgically treated by excision with clear margins. In this case, the verrucous carcinoma of the right calcaneus was excised and reconstructed with an MPAP flap with decent results, despite a challenging postoperative course.