Cause of Tumors in Your Feet

While the causes of tumors are unknown, some conditions can cause soft-tissue masses to grow in your foot. These lumps can become malignant or benign tumors. These include:

Cysts

Nerve tumors

Fat tumors

Swollen or ruptured tendons

A previous injury or trauma to your foot can create an infection. If left untreated, that infection can grow into a mass or tumor. Visit your New York foot doctor if a previous trauma to your foot is now showing redness, swelling or other signs of infection.

Symptoms of Foot Tumors

Tumors in the bone of your foot may be painless, but an injury can cause the tumor to begin hurting. Tumors that weaken bones can cause them to crack or break, which induces severe pain. In some cases, a lump may appear in conjunction with another symptom, such as a fever or night sweats.

The most common symptom and complaint of foot tumors is foot pain. It’s usually described as a dull ache where the tumor is located. And the pain isn’t always the result of a specific activity. Some people awaken during the night with intense foot pain. If a bone tumor is present, you can have any of the following symptoms as well:

Severe pain

Noticeable cosmetic issues. Often patients mistake bone spurs that form on joint or a bunion as it’s not always clear if the problem is a bunion. Bunions are not bone growths, rather they occur from a malalignment of the big toe joint causing the bone to push outwards. Bunion removal procedure commonly performed in our podiatric center by bunion surgeon Dr. Solomon involves repositioning the out-of-place bones.

Problems with footwear

Numbness or the feeling of paraesthesia (pins and needles)

All symptoms should always be evaluated with a thorough consultation and examination by your podiatrist for an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan to exclude any underlying serious condition.

Diagnosis of Foot Tumors

When you suspect you may have a tumor of the foot, visit your NYC podiatrist. Your foot doctor examines you to rule out other issues like a stress fracture or infection. Only through an accurate diagnosis can you get effective treatment.

During your exam, your foot specialist in New York asks you detailed questions about your medical history, your general health, your genetic disposition, the medications you’re taking and your current symptoms. The physical exam focuses on the size, type, location, pain level and tenderness of the growth, as well as the range of motion in your foot.

If your podiatric doctor at Beverly Hills Medical Group  diagnoses a bone tumor, chances are it’s benign. The most common kinds of benign bone tumors are:

Simple bone cyst

Ostecochondroma

Enchondroma

Giant cell tumor

Cancerous Tumors

Cancer of the foot is rare, but should your bone tumor be malignant or cancerous, your NYC foot doctor asks you about metastatic issues — where the cancer travels from another part of your body to your foot. Some of the more common types of malignant bone tumors in feet include:

Osteosarcoma: This is the most common type of bone cancer. When it occurs in your foot, a podiatrist NYC can easily misdiagnose it. It usually occurs in adults. When it does appear in younger people, it typically shows up in other parts of the body. Osteosarcoma can occur in any foot bone, although it most commonly appears in your heel bone.

Ewing’s sarcoma: This is the type of foot bone cancer that children and adults up to the age of 20 can get. The tumor can be present for months before it’s large enough to produce swelling and pain. If this cancer is in your forefoot, you have a great chance of survival — with assistance from a good foot doctor in New York City — than if you have cancer in your heel area.

Chondrosarcoma: This is a type of cancer that grows from transformed cells in cartilage. It typically occurs in adults aged 40 through 70. Although it can form in the cartilage of your foot, it occurs more commonly in your femur, pelvis or shoulder.

Treatment of Benign Tumors

Some benign bone tumors may not require treatment at all, such as a benign bone tumor in a child. Benign tumors in children may resolve on their own, if given sufficient time. In these cases, the best treatment is simply monitoring the bone tumor.

Other benign bone tumors often can be treated with medication. If you have osteochondroma, however, you may need surgery. Surgically removing these tumors usually solves the issue, but tumors in your foot bone are liable to recur.

Treatment of Malignant Foot Tumors

If you have a cancerous bone tumor, your foot doctor at Beverly Hills Medical Group  may get you started on a combination of therapies that include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. In surgery, your foot surgeon often needs to remove some healthy tissue and bone around the tumor along with the tumor itself.

After surgery, your foot specialist at Beverly Hills Medical Group  may replace the bone that’s removed with a bone transplant or a metallic implant. This procedure is known as limb salvage surgery. Amputating your foot is necessary only in advanced cases of bone cancer, and it’s a treatment your foot doctor at Beverly Hills Medical Group  tries very hard to avoid.

All symptoms should always be evaluated with a thorough consultation and examination by your podiatrist for an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan to exclude any underlying serious condition.