Staging of malignant tumours of the foot

Tumours of the foot in general, and malignant tumours in particular, are extremely rare. In the absence of a large series it is necessary to resort to surgery based on "principles" and not on experience or on data drawn from retrospective clinical studies. Enneking's "Surgical Staging System" (S.S.S) is a method of staging musculo-skeletal tumours which has been universally adopted-for several years and which is based, as already known, on the concept of anatomo-surgical "compartments". In the particular case of the foot, the S.S.S. suggests the surgical criteria specific to each anatomical region. The authors illustrate the principles with some examples taken from their experience, evaluating the surgical, oncological and functional aspects.