Spontaneous Intraventricular Hemorrhage: A Rare Presentation of a Skull Base Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma

Chondrosarcoma of the petrous apex with nerve abducens involvement in a woman with pre-existing contralateral amblyopia

We report about a case of a woman in her 50s with a chondrosarcoma of the petrous apex. She has a strabism due to a right-sided amblyopia since childhood and noticed a slowly progressive squint angle in the last months. Her general practitioner (GP) referred her to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed a left abducens paresis and initiated an MRI demonstrating a mass in the left petrous apex. A transnasal endoscopic transsphenoidal biopsy revealed a grade I chondrosarcoma. The patient underwent an endoscopic transsphenoidal anterior petrosectomy approach with complete removal of the tumour. After surgery the squint angle gradually improved to previous levels, so that the patient was able to resume her work. This report demonstrates that even slight changes of a squint angle without diplopia, in this case because of pre-existing amblyopia, could be a hallmark of an intracranial process.

Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma of the Jugular Foramen in a Pediatric Patient: A Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature

INTRODUCTION

Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma of the jugular foramen is a rare clinical entity, especially in the pediatric population. Thus, it can be confused with other pathologies.

CASE PRESENTATION

We report an extremely rare case of a 14-year-old female patient with jugular foramen myxoid chondrosarcoma that was completely removed through microsurgical resection.

CONCLUSION

The primary purpose of the treatment is gross total resection of the chondrosarcomas. However, adjuvant methods such as radiotherapy should additionally be applied in patients who have high-grade diseases or cannot undergo gross total resection because of anatomic localization.

Skull base chondrosarcoma presenting with parenchymal hemorrhage: A case report

Chondrosarcoma (CS) is a locally invasive, slow growing malignant neoplasm. Intracranial chondrosarcoma are extradural osseous lesions and intradural location with intratumoral hemorrhage is very rare. We report a rare case of 65-year-old male presenting with a small mass in left posterior skull base and later, suddenly deteriorating due to large cerebellar hemorrhage. A brief review of literature of such cases is also presented.

The Differences Between Intracranial Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma and Conventional Chondrosarcoma in Clinical Features and Outcomes

OBJECTIVE

To report differences in clinical features and outcomes between intracranial mesenchymal chondrosarcoma (MCS) and conventional chondrosarcoma (CCS).

METHODS

Clinical data of patients with primary intracranial MCS and CCS were retrospectively extracted and analyzed to compare differences between MCS and CCS.

RESULTS

Seventy-four patients with intracranial chondrosarcoma (61 cases with MCS and 13 cases with CCS) were included. Compared with patients with CCS, patients with MCS presented at a younger mean age (21.1 years vs. 34.5 years, P < 0.001) and had a poor mean preoperative Karnofsky performance scale score (64.6 vs. 77.8, P = 0.014). Compared with CCS, MCS was less often located in the skull base (38.5% vs. 96.7%, P < 0.001) and had a larger tumor volume (87.8 cm³ vs. 26.7 cm³, P < 0.001). Rates of gross total resection in MCS and CCS subgroups were 41.1% (n = 25) and 46.2% (n = 6), respectively; rates of adjuvant radiotherapy postoperatively were 44.2% (n = 27) and 46.2% (n = 6), respectively. After mean follow-up of 41.7 months, 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival and progression-free survival of MCS were significantly shorter than overall survival and progression-free survival of CCS. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor pathology and extent of surgery were independent predictors for tumor recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical features of MCS are quite different from CCS. Treatment strategies used for CCS do not yield satisfactory outcomes for MCS. Treatment of MCS should be aggressive and individualized.