A 60-year-old man presented with left hip pain, and a radiograph showed reduced joint space. During the surgical procedure for a total hip replacement, a proximal femur mass was identified and biopsy was subsequently interpreted as grade 2 chondrosarcoma. A wide resection was needed, but he developed local recurrence after 2 years and was treated with an external hemipelvectomy.
Chondrosarcoma does not always present with a classical clinical picture or imaging, and it can be misdiagnosed. Practitioners should be highly suspicious of malignant disease as a cause for hip pain even if there is no direct indication of a neoplasm such as chondrosarcoma.