[Chondrosarcoma of the trachea--report of a case]

A case of chondrosarcoma of the trachea in a 64-year-old man was reported. He was pointed out of benign tracheal tumor in September 1988. He was transferred to our hospital in September 1991 with respiratory distress attributable to asthma-like attack after bronchoscopic examination. Under right posterolateral thoracotomy, 1.7 cm length (3 rings) of the mediastinal trachea was resected and the trachea was reconstructed by end-to-end anastomosis with 3-0 Maxon interrupted sutures. The pathological diagnosis was a moderately well differentiated chondrosarcoma (grade II) of the trachea. Postoperative clinical course was uneventful without serious anastomotic complications. No local recurrence was seen 1 year after operation. It is necessary to follow meticulously the patients with chondrosarcoma of the trachea after surgery because of its low grade malignancy.