Surgical treatment of temporal bone chondroblastoma

Temporal bone chondroblastoma is a rare primary bone tumor that affects the floor of the middle cranial fossa. This tumor is known to have high recurrence rate after curettage, and wide resection is therefore recommended. However, the literature provides little information regarding long-term results after wide resection of temporal bone chondroblastoma.

Four cases of surgically treated temporal bone chondroblastoma underwent long-term follow-up.

Four patients, 3 males and 1 female, with mean age of 34, were surgically treated at the neurosurgery department of Keio University Hospital. Two patients were treated for recurrent tumor and the other two for new disease. In all cases the tumor mainly involved the mandibular fossa with variable degree of infiltration into tympanic and petrous parts. The tumor was totally removed via zygomatic approach in all patients. In 3 patients, the mandibular condyle was removed to expose the tumor. These patients had temporary malocclusion and restricted motion postoperatively, which resolved within 3 to 12 months with conservative treatment. All patients have no recurrence to date with a mean follow-up period of 9 years.

Temporal bone chondroblastoma was removed totally with skull base surgical technique and no recurrence has occurred for 6 to 13 years postoperatively. We found that removal of the mandibular head does not cause permanent problems of mastication in patients with normal dentures.