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| Chondrosarcoma |
| Etiology •The etiology of chondrosarcoma is unknown. |
| Pathogenesis •Not understood., |
| Epidemiology •Usually a tumor of older age groups. •Approximately twice as common in men as in women. •No racial preferences have been noted. |
| General Gross Description •Tumors exhibit features of cartilage, including abundant ground substance and chondrocytes. •Areas of calcification, necrosis and hemorrhage are seen in rapidly growing tumors. •Myxoid variants exhibit a viscous and gelatinous consistency. •Cellular atypia increases with poorly differentiated tumors. |
| General Microscopic Description •Histologically, chondrosarcomas can be divided into three grades - grade 1 (most differentiated) to grade 3 (most anaplastic) •Grade 1 tumors resemble normal cartilage closely, with little deviation from normal histology. •Grade 3 tumors can show considerable cellular atypia. •Most common grade of chondrosarcoma is grade 1. •More aggressive grades show areas of necrosis and hemorrhage. •The myxoid variant exhibits areas of myxomatous matrix. |
| Clinical Correlation •Most chondrosarcomas are slow growing, indolent tumors. •Five year survival rates for the three grades of chondrosarcoma are 90%, 81% and 43%. •Larger tumors behave more aggressively than smaller tumors. •As with all sarcomas, spread is preferentially through the vascular tree. •Tumors are rare in the distal extremities. •Common in central portions of the skeleton including the pelvis, shoulders and ribs. •Presenting symptoms are usually of a painful enlarging mass. |
| References • Cotran RS, Kumar V, Robbins SL: Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. 5th edition. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1994, pp. 1240. |
| Chondrosarcoma |
| Synopsis by: T.V. Rajan M.D. Ph.D. (T1X500M92203)[56] |
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