[Mesenchymal chondrosarcomas of the facial skull]

A 13-year-old girl suffered from a mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the left maxilla. The therapeutic options and the prognosis for this disease are described with respect to the currently known 72 cases in the literature. Mesenchymal chondrosarcomas are rare tumors of the bone and soft tissue. The first clinical symptom is a painless swelling of the facial skull. They occur largely in the 2nd and 3rd decades of life, preferentially in males. Radiological criteria for the identification of this type of tumor include focal ossification areas which are accompanied by non-calcified regions. Complete surgical removal of the tumor is the therapy of choice. Pre- and postoperative chemotherapy can have a beneficial effect. The final outcome of the disease is difficult to evaluate since late complications (e.g., reoccurrence and/or metastases) appear even after 20 years and only a small number of cases have been reported. At present, the 5-year survival rate is reported to be 54-82% and the 10-year rate 28-56%.