[Cervical chordoma. Apropos of a case]

The chordomas are malignant tumors arising from the remnants of the posterior spinal chord. The chordomas of the cervical spine are rare (5% of the spinal chordomas). A new case of spine chordoma at C5 level in a 76 years old woman is reported. The diagnosis depends on the results of the histological studies and especially the studies of the labelled elements as Protein S100 or Cytokeratin. Firstly a double osteosynthesis was realized by an anterior and posterior approach. There was no radiotherapy after this operation. A new operation for a fracture of odontoid process was necessary one year later. There was no recurrence. The patient was complaining from pains, two years after the first operation in relation to lateral recurrence. A third operation by an anterior approach was realized. A radiotherapy of 50 Gy was applied on the same level. The first osteosynthesis was with acrylic cement and the second one with an autologous bone graft and a plate after removing the cement without problem. Actually she is in good health, 78 years old.