Natural history of chondroid skull base lesions--case report and review

Long-term follow-up reports on chondroid lesions of the skull base are rarely presented in the literature. There are virtually no data on natural growth rates of these tumors based on MRI obtained over a period of 10 years or longer. We followed a patient who has had such a lesion for more than 12 years. A non-progressive, slight abducens palsy has been the only associated symptom so far. Even though the patient was operated on for an additional intracranial arterio-venous malformation, clinical features and chromosomal testing excluded Maffucci's syndrome. The MRI follow-up in this case provides an extraordinary perspective on the natural history of chondroid skull base tumors.