Osteosarcoma presenting as Tuberculosis at Elbow: Clinical dilemma

Abstract

Introduction: In India Tuberculosis is quite prevalent and we often overlook other lesions due to this. In our case middle aged man was misdiagnosed as tuberculosis of elbow initially though he had Osteolytic Osteosarcoma. Case report: A forty years old man, was admitted with chief complaints of: pain in left elbow joint from last three months, swelling with restricted movements since two months and fever, of one month duration. History of mild trauma was positive with loss of weight and appetite but without cough, expectoration or night sweats. X-rays of left elbow revealed generalized demineralization with soft tissue swelling and opacity on the medial side of joint with evidence of medial cortical destruction in supracondylar region suggestive of Tuberculosis. MRI left elbow revealed long segmental aggressive lesion. Conclusion: To avoid confirmation bias the clinicians should consider other possibilities as well.