A Rare Symptomatic Pelvic Rib - A Case Report

A pelvic rib or pelvic finger is a benign and unusual congenital entity of hip with a finger or rib like bone formation in soft tissues around pelvis. It is generally asymptomatic and incidentally discovered in a plain radiograph. This is a very rare but not unknown entity.

A 25-year-old male reported to our institution with dull aching pain over right hip and abduction gait, then followed up the radiograph and magnetic resonance imaging, in which there was a osteochondroma like lesion in medial aspect of lesser trochanter of right proximal femur was seen. Surgical excision of the lesion was done and sent for histopathological study in which pelvic rib was confirmed.

The real challenge is diagnosis of this condition with its differentials i.e. heterotrophic ossifications around hip, osteochondroma, post-traumatic ossification, or avulsion injuries in and around hip joint This entity should be in mind of radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and orthopedic onco-surgeons for differential diagnosis of chronic hip pain to avoid unnecessary investigations and procedures.