Intracortical chondroblastoma mimicking intra-articular osteoid osteoma

We report a case of intra-articular intracortical chondroblastoma of the femoral condyle which radiologically appeared to be osteoid osteoma. A 19-year-old woman presented with a 3-year history of gradually increasing pain in the right knee and had been on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain relief. Laboratory data were within normal limits. Radiographs showed a well-demarcated lucent lesion in the medial condyle of the right femur. A nidus-like lesion with calcifications and a sclerotic rim located in the cortex was imaged by computed tomography scan. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed bone marrow edema and soft tissue swelling around the lesion, with low signal intensity of the nidus-like lesion on both T1- and T2-weighted images. The lesion was excised en bloc and the histological diagnosis of chondroblastoma was made. A mild inflammatory reaction was observed in the bone marrow and synovium around the tumor. The chondroblastoma cells were shown to express cyclooxygenase-2 with immunohistochemistry.