[Intracranial chordoma and its surgical treatment]

Twenty-one patients with intracranial chordomas were classified into sellar region, middle fossa, posterior fossa and nasopharynx patterns according to their location. Twenty patients were operated on via various approaches: retromastoid, extreme lateral suboccipital, anterior basal, sphenoidal, oral, subtemporal, etc. The tumors were removed totally in 5 patients, subtotal or largely partial in 11, and partial in 3. Biopsy was performed only in one patient. No death occurred. The classification, diagnosis and treatment were discussed as well as the surgical approaches and techniques.