Acute Hip Pain—A Forgotten Cause

Abstract

This is a case of acute left hip pain in a young male patient presenting to the Emergency Department (ED). The hip joint is painful with limited range of motion, and the patient is admitted to rule out septic arthritis of the hip. The subsequent inpatient serum uric acid level performed is elevated and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) hip reveals a moderate hip effusion. A Computer Tomography (CT) guided hip joint aspiration confirms the diagnosis of gout with uric acid crystals seen in the hip synovial fluid analysis. The patient is treated as for gout with marked improvement in his symptoms.