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Chordomas and Chondrosarcomas

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Samii's Essentials in Neurosurgery

Abstract

Primary bone tumors of the skull base are unusual pathologies, mostly chordoma and chondrosarcoma [44]. Their development sends us to the embryological period in which the axial skeleton is formed [21]. The notochord is the initial axial skeletal structure that is progressively involved by the mesodermal tissue and later on replaced by cartilaginous and bone tissues [21]. Remnants of the notochord may remain entrapped by bone [21, 29], particularly in the clivus and sacrum [28, 29, 56]. They are also encountered in the nucleus pulposus [56] or forming a rather distinct intradural clival mass that may be found incidentally at autopsy, namely the ecchordosis physalifora [23]. In addition, focal persistent rests of fetal cartilage may remain unchanged in the skull base during ossification [11, 44].

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  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Eberhard-Karls University Hospital, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Marcos Tatagiba & Marcus Andre Acioly

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  1. Marcos Tatagiba
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Tatagiba, M., Acioly, M. (2008). Chordomas and Chondrosarcomas. In: Samii's Essentials in Neurosurgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49250-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49250-4_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-49249-8

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