Chordoma. Report on treatment results in eighteen cases

Eighteen patients with a proven histologic diagnosis of chordoma were treated between 1949 and 1982. Four patients received only surgery, 4 patients only radiation therapy, and 10 patients received surgery and postoperative radiation therapy to a varying dose. The results suggest that a higher radiation dose gives longer recurrence-free survival, and that the best long term results can be achieved by combining surgery--as radically as possible--with radiation therapy to a dose level of 60 to 65 Gy. In view of the number of marginal recurrences (2 out of the 14 patients who received radiation therapy), the importance of choosing the right treatment volume is stressed.