Cervical Chordoma: Report of a Case and a Brief Review of the Literature

Abstract

A case of cervical chordoma in a 54-year-old woman is reported. This case was characterized by the site of the tumour, the symptom-free course up to the terminal phase, and the cause of death which was massive subdural and subarachnoid haemorrhage throughout the length of the spinal cord due to invasion of the vertebral artery. Perusal of the literature has not revealed symptoms which are pathognomonic, or even characteristic, of chordomas, neither of cranial, cervical nor sacral situation. The course differs according to the site, the survival time for patients with cranial and cervical chordomas being 2–4 years, while for patients with sacral tumours it averages 5–7 years. The characteristic histology, the only means of making an exact diagnosis, is described. In addition, it was attempted to characterize the tumour histochemically by various mucus stainings. This showed that the ground substance consists of acid mucopolysaccharides.