Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma-A Retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is a rare high grade malignant neoplasm that accounts for 3-10% of all chondrosarcomas. Histopathologically, it shows biphasic population composed of small round to ovoid with occasional spindle cells and islands of well differentiated cartilage. The study aimed at retrospectively analysing the clinical, pathological, radiological features of these cases in our institution.

Materials and methods: This is a retrospective descriptional study. All the cases of mesenchymal chondrosarcomas were retrieved from our archives of pathology over a period of 10 years .The demographic details including the age, clinical presentation including skeletal/extraskeletal along with radiology were noted for all these cases. The treatment details along with the follow up of the patients were archived from the medical records.

Results: A total of 13 cases of mesenchymal chondrosarcoma were retrieved for our study. The mean age of presentation was 33 years with a slight male predilection. Extra skeletal soft tissue origin was noted in 3 of our cases (3/13), one case in forearm, another in pelvis. The third case was intracranial origin which presented as a dural based parieto-occipital mass and rest all had bony origin .The radiological and clinical correlation was done for all these cases.

Conclusion: Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma presents multiple diagnostic challenges, most common include inadequate biopsy samples which may result in errors in diagnosis, namely with small blue round cell tumours .A better understanding of this entity may help the pathologists in conferring an accurate diagnosis to the clinicians.