Pediatric Chondrosarcoma of the Sternum Resected with Thorascopic Assistance

Chondrosarcomas are a heterogeneous group of malignant neoplasms that arise from bones, cartilage or other soft tissues that produce cartilage and are commonly seen in the middle decades of life. Despite being the most common primary bone sarcoma in adults, chondrosacromas are rare in pediatric patients.

We report the case of a six-year-old child with a painless enlarging sternal mass of which biopsy was consistent with low-grade surface chondrosarcoma. This is the first reported case of a chest wall chondrosarcoma in a young child. This unusual location in a young patient presented challenges to treatment. Resection of the manubrium was performed by a multidisciplinary team of orthopaedic oncology and pediatric general surgery. The patient underwent a wide resection of the sternal mass from an anterior approach performed by the orthopaedic oncology team using an oscillating saw under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery to ensure adequate mass resection without injury to nearby structures. The patient was followed with quarterly physical exams and radiographs for 18 months postoperatively and did not have any pain or evidence of recurrence.

Clinicians should consider utilizing multidisciplinary approaches to treat patients with chondrosarcomas of the chest wall.