Chondroblastoma of the Lower Thoracic Spine. A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Walid Osman¹, Afif Zaoui², Soumaya Ben Abdelkrim^3, , Riadh Ben Hamida¹ and Mohamed Ben Ayèche¹

¹Department of orthopaedics, Sahloul University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia

²Department of physiatrics, Sahloul University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia

³Department of Pathology, Farhat Hached University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia

Cite this paper

Walid Osman, Afif Zaoui, Soumaya Ben Abdelkrim, Riadh Ben Hamida and Mohamed Ben Ayèche. Chondroblastoma of the Lower Thoracic Spine. A Case Report and Review of the Literature. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2014; 2(4):78-81. doi: 10.12691/AJMCR-2-4-2

Abstract

Background: Chondroblastoma of the spine is a very rare condition. To the best of our knowledge, fewer than 30 cases have been reported in the world literature. Material and methods: The authors describe here a rare spinal localization with an uncommon evolution and make a review of the cases of spinal chondroblastoma reported in the literature. Results: We report the case of a patient with chronic back pain and progressive weakness of both lower limbs. Computed tomography scan showed a mass infiltrating the twelfth thoracic vertebra and adjacent structures. The patient underwent surgery and subtotal removal was achieved while a posterior stabilization was performed. Pathological examination revealed a chondroblastoma. During follow-up, MRI examination revealed that the tumor had locally relapsed; nevertheless, the patient was asymptomatic for 13 years after operation. Conclusion: Spinal chondroblastoma has an aggressive behavior with high recurrence and mortality rates.

Keywords

chondroblastoma, spine origin, diagnosis, histology, outcome

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	Ewing, J., (1928) the classification and treatment of bone sarcoma. Report of International Conference on Cancer (Bristol), J Write, 1928, 265-267.
[2]	Codman, E.A., “Epiphyseal chondromatous giant cell tumors of the humerus”. Surg Gynecol Obstet, 52, 543-548, 1931.
[3]	Dahlin, D.C., Ivin, J.C., “Benign chondroblastoma: a study of 125 cases”. Cancer, 30(2), 401-413, Aug 1972.
[4]	Kurt, A.M., Unni, K.K., Sim, F.H., McLeod, R.A., “Chondroblastoma of bone”. Hum Pathol, 20, 965-976, Oct 1989.
[5]	Huvos, A.G., Marcove, R.C., “Chondroblastoma of bone: a critical review”. Clin Orthop, 95, 300-312, 1973.
[6]	Buraczewski, J., Lysakowska, J., Rudowski, W., “Chondroblastoma (Codman's tumour) of the thoracic spine”. J Bone Joint Surg Br, 39-B(4), 705-710, 1957.
[7]	Ehalt, W., Ratzenhofer, M., “On the case history of a benign chondroblastoma”. Z Orthop Ihre Grenzgeb, 102(4), 625-629, 1967.
[8]	Wisniewski, M., Toker, C., Anderson, P.J., Huang, Y.P., Malis, L.I., “Chondroblastoma of the cervical spine. Case report”. J Neurosurg, 38(6), 763-766, 1973.
[9]	Akai, M., Tateishi, A., Machinami, R., Iwano, K., Asao, T., “Chondroblastoma of the sacrum. A case report”. Acta Orthop Scand, 57(4), 378-381, 1986.
[10]	Hoeffel, J.C., Brasse, F., Schmitt, M., Plenat, F., Vignaud, J.M., Czorny, A., Montaut, J., Marchal, A.L., “About one case of vertebral chondroblastoma”. Pediatr Radiol, 17(5), 392-396, 1987.
[11]	Howe, J.W., Baumgard, S., Yochum, T.R., Sladich, M.A., “Case report 449: Chondroblastoma involving C5 and C6”. Skeletal Radiol, 17(1), 52-55, 1988.
[12]	Kurth, A.A., Warzecha, J., Rittmeister, M., Schmitt, E., Hovy, L., “Recurrent chondroblastoma of the upper thoracic spine. A case report and review of the literature”. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg, 120(9), 544-547, 2000.
[13]	Shin, B.J., Yun, T.K., Lim, K.C., Lee, J.C., Kim, K.J., Kim, D.W., Kim, Y.I., “Chondroblastoma of the first lumbar vertebra: a case report”. J Korean Soc Spine Surg, 8, 90-95, 2001.
[14]	Leung, L.Y., Shu, S.J., Chan, M.K., Chan, C.H., “Chondroblastoma of the lumbar vertebra”. Skeletal Radiol, 30(12), 710-713, Dec 2001.
[15]	Nishida, J., Kato, S., Murakami, H., Ehara, S., Satoh, T., Okada, K., Shimamura, T., “Tetraparesis caused by chondroblastoma of the cervical spine: a case report”. Spine (Phila Pa 1976), 28(9), E173-178, May 2003.
[16]	Attar, A., Ugur, H.C., Caglar, Y.S., Erdogan, A., Ozdemir, N., “Chondroblastoma of the thoracic vertebra”. J Clin Neurosci, 8(1), 59-60, Jan 2001.
[17]	Shung, O.M., Yip, S.F., Ngan, K.C., Ng, W.F., “Chondroblastoma of the lumbar spine with cauda equina syndrome”. Spinal Cord, 41(6), 359-364, Jun 2003.
[18]	Ilaslan, H., Sundaram, M., Unni, K.K., “Vertebral chondroblastoma”. Skeletal Radiol, 32(2), 66-71, Feb 2003.
[19]	Vialle, R., Feydy, A., Rillardon, L., Tohme-Noun, C., Anract, P., Colombat, M., De Pinieux, G., Drapé, J.L., Guigui, P., “Chondroblastoma of the lumbar spine. Report of two cases and review of the literature”. J Neurosurg Spine, 2(5), 596-600, May 2005.
[20]	Lee, Y.H., Shin, D.A., Kim, K.N., Yoon, H., “A case of thoracic vertebral chondroblastoma, treated with 3-D Image Resection and Reconstruction”. J Korean Neurosurg Soc 37,154-156, 2005.
[21]	Sohn, S.H., Koh, S.A., Kim, D.G., Park, S.W., Lee, K.H., Kim, M.K., Choi, J.H., Hyun, M.S., “A case of spine origin chondroblastoma metastasis to lung”. Cancer Res Treat, 41(4), 241-244, Dec 2009.
[22]	Mohamed, B., Madiha, M., Ridha, S., Abdelaziz, Z., Khelil, E., Mondher, K., Mongi, Z., “Aggressive spinal chondroblastoma”. Tunis Med, 88(2),134-136, Feb 2010.
[23]	Hernández Martínez, S.J., Campa Núñez, H., Ornelas Cortinas, G., Garza Garza, R., “Chondroblastoma of the fourth lumbar vertebra diagnosed by aspiration biopsy: case report and review of the literature”. Acta Cytol, 55(5), 473-477, 2011.
[24]	Kim, S.A., Cho, K.J., Park, Y.K., Lee, J.S., Kwon, H.J., Chung, H., Kim, M.J., “Chondroblastoma of the lumbar spine. A case report and review of the literature”, Korean Journal of Pathology, 45, 532-536, 2011.