Painful swollen leg--think beyond deep vein thrombosis or Baker's cyst.
BACKGROUND
The diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis of leg is very common in clinical practice. Not infrequently a range of pathologies are diagnosed after excluding a thrombosis, often after a period of anticoagulation.


METHODS
This is a report of three patients who presented with a painful swollen leg and were initially treated as a deep vein thrombosis or a baker's cyst, but later diagnosed as a pleomorphic sarcoma, a malignant giant cell tumor of the muscle and a myxoid liposarcoma. A brief review of such similar reports and the relevant literature is presented.


CONCLUSIONS
A painful swollen leg is a common clinical scenario and though rare, tumors must be thought of without any delay, in a duplex negative, low risk deep vein thrombosis situation.
Arumilli
Buchi R B
BR
The Regional Sarcoma Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9WL, UK. rajjuorth@gmail.com
Lenin Babu
Vinayagam
V
Paul
Ashok S
AS
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D008080:Liposarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019042:Muscle Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011151:Popliteal Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis*