Chondrosarcoma of the aorta: a rare source of bowel and lower extremity emboli

Malignant aortic tumors occur infrequently. At least 70 cases of primary aortic malignancies have been reported in the literature. Within this group, chondrosarcoma is exceedingly rare, with only 1 case having been reported. An aortic chondrosarcoma developed in our patient and embolized to the small bowel and lower extremities. Although initially thought to arise from the abdominal aorta, this tumor, in fact, originated from the thoracic aorta. This case illustrates the need for complete aortic imaging when unexplained recurrent embolization occurs. In general, the survival rates with chondrosarcoma are diminished, but this patient survived 69 months after he was initially seen.