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[Dorsal medullary compression due to a primary vertebral chondrosarcoma]
M Gelabert-González1, R M Reyes-Santías, A García-Pravos
1Servicio de Neurocirugía, Hospital General de Galicia, Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Neurológicas Pedro Barrié Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, España. cimigego@usc.es
Introduction:
Chondrosarcomas are the second commonest type of bony tumors, although they are not commonly found to be vertebral. They may originate in healthy bone or develop in a cartilaginous lesion with sarcomatous degeneration.
Clinical Case:
A 62 year old woman complained of pain in the back and weakness of her legs. Following magnetic resonance studies a tumour at the level of the D6-D7 vertebrae was diagnosed. This was operated on and an extradural tumour, a grade 11 chondrosarcoma was removed. A local recurrence was removed two years later and three years afterwards she is still asymptomatic.
Conclusions:
A spinal chondrosarcoma is a tumour which usually presents with local pain and signs of spinal involvement. On magnetic resonance it is iso-intense on T1 and shows up with contrast. The treatment of choice is radical surgery since it does not respond well to oncological treatment.