[5 cases of chondrosarcoma. Review of the literature]

Five cases of chondrosarcoma are reported. Some specific characteristics of this tumor are recalled : prevalence is approximately 10% of primary malignant bone lesions, onset usually occurs between 40 and 70 years of age, prevalence is higher in males, elective sites are the proximal long bones and pelvis, pain is often the initial symptomatology, the patient's general condition remains satisfactory over a long period of time, sedimentation rates have no diagnostic or prognostic value, medullary arteriography and computed tomography are helpful for evaluation the topography and the extension of a vertebral localization, and the course is protracted. Prognosis is dependent on both the surgical possibilities and the characteristics of the tumor (site, size, histologic grade). Conversely to metastases which occur electively in grade III tumors, recurrences are not necessarily correlated with the histologic grade; they often occur in tumors whose localization precluded radical surgery and may be the occasion of development into a higher grade of malignancy. Inasmuch as it is feasible, carcinologic surgery is the only effective therapy; it carries hope for 10 year survival times in approximatley 70% of patients.