Case 1. An 84-year-old female presented with a 5 year history of a fungating lesion on the dorsum of her right hand. The lesion was large and fixation to underlying structures was reported; no axillary lymphadenopathy was present. A biopsy, not unexpectedly reported a poorly differentiated, 13.7mm thick SCC and MRI revealed extensive involvement of the second and third metacarpals and interossei which extended volarly. CT chest, abdomen and pelvis showed no evidence of metastatic spread. Following MDT and patient discussion a distal forearm amputation was undertaken. Recovery was unremarkable and there has been no recurrence or metastatic spread since last clinical review at 48 months ().
Case 6. An 84-year-old female presented to the Plastic Surgery Department following a non-healing ulcer on her right hand, wrist and forearm. She sustained a hot oil scald to both upper limbs at the age of 23 whilst living in Kenya. The burns were excised and resurfaced with a split thickness skin graft. Unfortunately, she developed an unstable scar on the right upper limb since her injury and has been managed with dressings and antibiotics. Skin biopsies were performed intermittently over the years which revealed inflammatory changes only, however, 6 years since the last skin biopsy, a 7mm thick well differentiated SCC was reported. The patient had one palpable lymph node in the right axilla however fine needle aspiration cytology and CT showed no evidence of metastasis. Due to the extensive nature of ulceration and poor skin quality of the adjacent areas it was decided that amputation of the hand at the level of the mid forearm was most appropriate. She has healed well and has showed no sign of recurrence nor metastasis 1 month post-operatively ().