Nonhealing ulcerative mass of the elbow: do not forget tuberculosis

Skeletal tuberculosis is a rare condition and is seen in only 1 to 2% of all cases of tuberculosis. The authors present a 69-year-old white woman with tuberculosis of the left elbow joint whose disease was suspicious for synovial sarcoma. Skeletal tuberculosis usually conflicts with neoplastic or inflammatory diseases. One should remember the possibility of bone-joint tuberculosis and send biopsy specimens for culture to determine the presence of acid-fast bacilli. However, neither culture nor polymerase chain reaction nor histological examination may be capable of showing the bacilli. Only a suspicion may be enough. The treatment protocol is usually a combination of surgical debridement and multidrug antituberculous chemotherapy.