Cancer has an effect on all areas of the body and also the foot is no exception. It can be, nevertheless, rare in the foot but when it does happen having the diagnosis accurate is essential. Cancer is a problem with the cells in various body tissues. A cancer develops when irregular cells grow in an out of control manner and they may damage or invade the encircling tissues, or propagate to other organs of your body, triggering further damage.
There’s two kinds of cancer which may affect the feet. One is that a tumour may develop within the cells in the feet. It may be in every tissue on the feet with the skin to the ligaments to the joints to the bone. This might be a melanoma on the skin or perhaps an osteoma in the bone. These are typically noticeable to the eye, if on the skin or to imaging if deeper. The symptoms can vary with the look on the skin to pain deep inside the foot. The pain is typically not like the more common reasons behind foot pain, so could be easy to diagnose. These types of different types of cancers which affect the foot are generally benign and comparatively easy to handle. Once in a while they’re not benign and their treatment solution takes on some urgency should it be malignant.
One other form of cancer which affects the foot is those that are a metastasis from a cancer somewhere else in the body for example the brain or bowels. They send out a seed which settles in alternative tissues faraway from the first cancer, in this case, the foot. Generally the presence of the primary cancer is diagnosed, but this symbol of the spread out is critical. In some cases the foot pain from the metastasis from a faraway cancer is the first sign of the cancer, which is often not a good warning, therefore it is required to be urgently further looked into.
This is a clear indication the key reason why it’s so crucial to get yourself a medical diagnosis recognized and right for virtually any explanation for foot pain. The chances are that the problem is simple, and the diagnosis is not problematic. On that tremendously rare situation that it is a cancer is possibly the cause, the need for getting the diagnosis right in the beginning could be the difference between the problem being deadly or not. Podiatrists have a great deal of training in foot problems and these rare circumstances will almost always be on their radar when they are dealing with the patient with foot pain. The consequence to the patient in terms of a much better end result are determined by the podiatrist suspicious of that uncommon source of the pain and getting it further looked into if they are suspect.
The treating of a cancer that has an effect on the foot will be based on if it’s malignant or benign and just what tissue is altered and how deep it has advanced. The treatment of cancers that affect the foot are no different to cancer in other regions in the body and will include a team of experts.
For the latest on cancer metastasis, see:
How cancer metastasis happens: Researchers reveal a key mechanism
Article by: Craig Payne September 5, 2022