A Large Rice Body-Containing Cyst Mimicking Infection Following Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Case Report

Introduction: Soft tissue mass following total hip arthroplasty raises several differential diagnoses not limited to infection, hematoma, wear debris, malignancy, and bursitis. Rice body formation in the hip region is an uncommon process denoting a chronic inflammation. We report here the second case of its kind in the medical literature of a wide symptomatic rice-like body cyst complicating a total hip arthroplasty.

Case Presentation: This is the case of an 82-year-old white female, presenting with a warm, red, and inflated groin five years after revision of right total hip arthroplasty. Surgical intervention reveals a large well circumscribed cyst containing well-organized rice-like bodies. This eventuality was never reported in differential diagnosis of hip periprosthetic soft tissue masses before.

Conclusion: This case report helps widening the array of the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with a slow growing soft tissue mass following total hip arthroplasty, making rice-like bodies cyst a valid one to consider.