A Rare Cause of Ankle Pain - Chondrosarcoma of the Talus: A Case Report and Literature Review

Chondrosarcoma of the talus is one of the rare causes of ankle pain. Often this pain is neglected by the patients. Hence, the presentation is late. A rare occurrence, lack of clinical familiarity, and resemblance to enchondroma make the diagnosis of chondrosarcoma difficult.

We present a case of chondrosarcoma of talus in a 42-year-old female, which is an uncommon site of occurrence. In the presence of non-classical radiologic and histologic findings, the patient was treated with below-knee amputation. At present, the patient is disease-free and walking with a prosthesis.

Talus is an infrequent site for chondrosarcoma. When affected, it presents as vague ankle pain. A patient can be underdiagnosed as there are no clear radiological and histological guidelines to differentiate between benign and low-grade cartilaginous tumors such as enchondroma and low-grade chondrosarcoma. Histologically proven benign lesions must be followed for a long time in suspicion of malignancy. The treatment of chondrosarcoma of the talus can vary from local wide excision to below-knee amputation, depending on the grade of malignancy.