Coronary artery bypass grafting and concomitant excision of chest wall chondrosarcoma

Coexistence of coronary artery disease and cancer with both requiring surgical treatment at the same time is rare. A 52 year male undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting was incidentally discovered to have a large soft tissue mass of variable consistency with cartilaginous elements arising from the right costal margin and adjoining ribs by a broad attachment and protruding into right pleural cavity. Frozen section suggested it to be either a chondrosarcoma or a teratoma. A wide excision of the mass with the adjoining muscle and periosteum along with quadruple coronary artery bypass grafting was done. This report is unusual on account of a) being the first reported case in world literature of concomitant excision of chondrosarcoma and coronary artery bypass grafting and b) the conservative management of the incidentally discovered chondrosarcoma by wide excision rather than chest wall resection with no local recurrence to date. Pathology of chondrosarcoma, in particular, and various management strategies when coronary artery disease and cancer coexist, in general, is discussed.