Abstract
Chondrosarcomas are uncommon primary malignant cartilaginous tumours, even less common in spine. Surgical excision is the only mode of successful treatment as these tumours are resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy. We share our experience of 22 cases of chondrosarcomas of the spine with special reference to their recurrence and survival.
We identified 20 conventional and 2 dedifferentiated chondrosarcomas from the Scottish Bone Tumour Registry database between 1964 and 2009. Radiology and histopathology were documented. The mean follow-up was 5.2 years.
There were 14 men and 8 women with a mean age of 50.1 years. There were 7 under the age of 40 years (31.8%). The majority of lesions occurred in the thoracic spine (16), followed by sacrum (3), lumbar (2) and cervical spine (1). The overall local recurrence rate was 45.4% (10/22 cases-once in 5, twice in 2 and thrice in 3 patients).
Four patients presented with pulmonary metastases leading to death. The estimated overall 5- and 10-year survival rates were 31.8% and 18.1% respectively. We found that 1/3rd of chondrosarcomas of the spine occured below 40 years of age and 3/4th in the thoracic spine. Every other case was associated with local recurrence with a 32% 5-year and 18% 10-year survival rates.
