Recurrent L3 Chordoma Presented as Intradural Extramedullary Mass With Distant Metastasis: A Case Report

Here, we report a rare case of L3 chordoma progressed to an intradural extramedullary (IDEM) mass and distant metastasis to the fascia lata. A 64-year old female patient presented to a local university hospital due to back pain and received excisional biopsy for a L3 destructive bony lesion. Local radiation therapy was initially administered, assuming a malignancy of unknown origin, but she developed cerebrospinal fluid leakage during adjuvant radiation therapy, which was managed by wound revision and lumbar drainage. As the destructive lesion progressed, she visited our hospital for a second opinion 3 months after the biopsy. After review of outside pathology, we diagnosed the lesion to be a chordoma, and performed a L3 corpectomy with cage and plate fixation. One and a half years later, positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET-CT) revealed a right tensor fascia lata hypermetabolic lesion. Excisional biopsy confirmed a distant metastasis of the chordoma. One year later, she complained of L2 radiating pain. PET-CT and CT myelogram revealed an IDEM lesion. Surgical excision confirmed the transdural invasion of the chordoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an iatrogenic IDEM invasion and distant metastasis to the tensor of the fascia lata by a L3 chordoma.