We have treated 175 patients with a chordoma over a ten-year period. Only two had a family history of the condition and we describe these in this paper. In one patient the tumour was at the craniocervical junction and in the other the lesion affected the sacrum. We have undertaken a literature review of familial chordoma and have identified chromosomal abnormalities associated with the condition.

We present data relating to the Bryan disc arthroplasty for the treatment of cervical spondylosis in 46 patients.

Patients with either radiculopathy or myelopathy had a cervical discectomy followed by implantation of a cervical disc prosthesis. Patients were reviewed at six weeks, six months and one year and assessment included three outcome measures, a visual analogue scale (VAS), the short form 36 (SF-36) and the neck disability index (NDI). The results were categorised according to a modification of Odom’s criteria. Radiological evaluation, by an independent radiologist, sought evidence of movement, stability and subsidence of the prosthesis.

A highly significant difference was found for all three outcome measurements, comparing the pre-operative with the post-operative values: VAS (Z = 6.42, p < 0.0001), SF-36 (mental component) (Z = −5.02, p < 0.0001), SF-36 (physical component) (Z = −5.00, p < 0.0001) and NDI (Z = 7.03, p < 0.0001). The Bryan cervical disc prosthesis seems reliable and safe in the treatment of patients with cervical spondylosis.