Chondrosarcoma

Skull base chondrosarcomas are rare tumors that account for 0.1% of primary intracranial neoplasms. Chondrosarcomas are thought to arise from mesenchymal cells or from embryonal cartilage remnants of synchondroses, in which the majority of cranial chondrosarcomas occur at the skull base (75%) in the paraclival region, and include the petroclival, petro-occipital, spheno-occipital, and sphenopetrosal synchondroses. These tumors often extend into the paranasal sinuses, middle fossa, and/or posterior fossa. The majority of these tumors are low to intermediate grade, with slow growth and low metastatic potential, and histologically are grouped into conventional, mesenchymal, clear cell, and dedifferentiated types. Primary treatment is surgical resection, in which radiation therapy, including fractionated radiation, stereotactic radiosurgery, proton beam, and heavy particle radiation, is typically used for subtotal resection and recurrent disease. In this chapter, we present a case of a patient with petroclival chondrosarcoma.