Chordoma in the sella turcica

A 75-year-old man presented with a rare case of chordoma in the sella turcica of the skull base. He had been treated for hypertension and chronic renal failure since 1990. Computed tomography detected a tumor in the sella turcica in 1994, but the patient had no clinical complaints and the serum pituitary hormone levels were normal. He died of disseminated intravascular coagulation, myocardial infarction, pulmonary infection, and multiple cerebral infarctions in 2000. At autopsy, the tumor in the sella turcica was 3.1 cm in greatest diameter and had compressed the pituitary gland posteriorly. Histological examination found oval cells and vacuolated short spindle-shaped cells which showed morphological changes similar to myxoma cells. The tumor was lobulated by narrow connective tissues. The tumor did not contain any cartilaginous tissue components, and was stained positively for epithelial membrane antigen but negatively for S-100 protein. The final diagnosis was chordoma. There was no association between the tumor and the cause of death.