Classical intracranial chondrosarcoma: A case report

Abstract

Intracranial chondrosarcoma is a rare malignant cartilage-forming tumor, with only a small number of cases in the posterior cranial fossa reported previously. The present study reports the case of a 40-year-old male patient who was admitted to Tianjin Huanhu Hospital with a progressive headache and dizziness that had lasted for 2 years. Physical and neurological examinations were normal. Radiography of the skull identified an opaque lesion in the left frontal region of the brain. Cranial computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a lesion with calcification and homogenous contrast enhancement in the left frontal region. Subsequently, the patient underwent bicoronal craniotomy and gross total resection of the tumor. Pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of classical intracranial chondrosarcoma. The patient was discharged 10 days after surgery, with no neurological deficit. One month after initial discharge, the patient underwent γ-knife treatment. A follow-up examination 9 months after surgery revealed that the patient was still alive and had returned to work, with no obvious symptoms or evidence of recurrence.

Keywords: central nervous system; chondrosarcoma; intracranial tumor.

Figure 1.

Pre-operative computed tomography revealed an iso-/hyperdense mass with unclear boundaries located in the left frontoparietal region.

Figure 2.

(A) Horizontal, (B) coronal and (C) sagittal pre-operative MRI scans of the left frontoparietal region revealed a mass with a signal intensity higher than that of the grey matter on T1-weighted images. (D) Postoperative cranial MRI revealed no residual tumor. MRI, magnetic resonance imaging.

Figure 3.

Histopathological evaluation revealed that the mass was composed of undifferentiated round or spindle-shaped cells and mature cartilaginous tissue (stain, hematoxylin and eosin; magnification, ×200).