[Interesting case no. 45. Pharyngeal manifestation of chondroid chordoma]

Chordomas usually occur in the axial skeleton and they arise from the remnants of notochord. Their growth is slow and they often metastase. Most frequently chordomas are situated in sacral bone (50%), in spheno-occipital region of the skull base (35%) and in the cervical and lumbar spine (15%). We reported an unusual case of chordoma of the cervical spine with participation of the parapharyngeal space. The cervical chordoma was excised by total resection of the tumor mass with partial vertebrectomy C2/C3.