title: Cranial chordomas: clinical presentation and results of operative and radiation therapy in twenty-six patients.
abstract: The clinical presentation and the results of operative and radiation therapy in a series of 26 patients with cranial chordomas seen at the University of California, San Francisco, between 1940 and 1984 are reviewed. There were 14 men and 12 women, with a mean age of 39.6 years. Six patients had chondroid chordomas. The most common presenting symptoms were headache and diplopia, and the most common presenting sign was extraocular palsy. Fifty-three operations directed at removal of the tumor were performed. Twenty-three patients received various forms of radiation therapy postoperatively, including conventional external beam therapy, heavy charged particles, and interstitial implants. The average length of follow-up is 5.6 years. Eleven of 26 patients have died; the mean duration of survival in this group, excluding 1 perioperative death, was 4 years and 2 months. Although the average survival time of 6 years and 4 months was the same in patients with typical chordomas (excluding the perioperative death and 1 patient lost to follow-up) and in those with the chondroid variant, all of the latter are still alive, whereas more than half of the patients with typical chordoma have died.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002817:Chordoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012086:Reoperation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed