Hemorrhagic prepatellar bursitis: a rare case report and review of the literature

Bursitis is a common cause of lower extremity pain in patients presenting to primary care physicians. However hemorrhagic prepatellar bursitis is considered to be one of the rare differential diagnoses of swellings around the knee and its diagnosis both clinically and radiologically can be difficult. We present a rare case report of a 50-year-old female patient with complaints of swelling and pain over her right knee for past one year. An initial diagnosis of prepatellar bursitis was made and aspiration of the swelling was done which revealed blood. After further investigations a final diagnosis of hemorrhagic prepatellar bursitis was made which was treated with complete excision and the patient was completely relieved of her symptoms.