[Surgical treatment of sacro-coccygeal chordoma]

Chordoma is an uncommon malignant tumor with unusual characteristics developing in the remnants of the notochord and usually manifesting itself in patients in their forties and fifties. It is usually located in the body's symmetrical axis or attached to it. The pathological structure is rather characteristic to benign tumors. Although not painful, it is a mercilessly aggressive local tumor, in some cases resulting metastatic progression and might alter its histological picture in long-lived patients. It is found most prevalently (about 60 percent) in the sacrococcygeal region and at the clivus and manifesting itself spinally (over the sacrum) most likely in the lumbar region. Between 1992 and 2002, the authors have treated surgically 37 patients with sacrococcygeal chordoma. They applied wide resection following which only seven patients required re-operation. They show detailed data regarding this patient group and discuss the technical aspects of the wide tumor-resection.