Recurrent chondroblastoma of the upper thoracic spine

Abstract

A very rare case of recurrent chondroblastoma of the upper thoracic spine with a follow-up of more than 20 years is presented and discussed with a review of the literature.

Vertebral chondroblastoma

“…There were eight radiographs, seven CT scans, two MR examinations, three tomograms, and one myelogram. In one report there were no illustrations, microscopic or imaging [14]. It was difficult to determine the origin of the tumors owing to limited descriptive detail.…”

“…Twelve case reports in four languages (English, French, German, and Polish) were identified [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. These case reports were reviewed to determine the ages of the patients at presentation, gender, vertebral column location, origin and extent, morphology, matrix, bony edema, soft tissue mass, and spinal canal invasion.…”

“…Chondroblastoma of the mobile and nonmobile spine has been the subject of case reports since the first publication in 1957 [5]. A further 11 case reports, published over the past 45 years, were found in a search of the world literature [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. Between 1965 and 2001, nine vertebral chondroblastomas were diagnosed in our pathology department.…”

Chondroblastoma of the Fourth Lumbar Vertebra Diagnosed by Aspiration Biopsy: Case Report and Review of the Literature

“…The vertebral column is an extremely unusual site of occurrence [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. Ilaslan et al [9] reported 856 chondroblastomas, 9 of which arose in the vertebral column (i.e.…”

“…It was first described by Ewing [1] and Codman [2], but it was not until 1942 that Jaffe and Lichtenstein [3] were the first to confirm its chondromatous nature and rightfully name it chondroblastoma. The occurrence of chondroblastoma in the vertebral column is exceptional, with approximately 30 cases reported in the whole spine and less than 10 cases reported within the lumbar region [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. Brief reports have been published in the literature regarding the diagnostic pitfalls, cytological features, and differential diagnosis of chondroblastoma by aspiration biopsy (AB) [17,18,19,20].…”