title: Giant vertebral notochordal rest: a lesion distinct from chordoma: discussion of an evolving concept.
abstract: A 14-year-old boy with severe back pain for several years is described. Roentgenograms, bone scans, and computed tomographic scans of the spine were normal, but magnetic resonance imaging studies showed a lumbar vertebral body lesion, confined to the bone, with low T1- and high T2-weighted signal intensities. Histologically, the lesion consisted of sheet-like notochordal-type tissue, containing physaliphorous cells but lacking the usual features of chordoma. A diagnosis of giant notochordal rest was made. A review of prior possible examples of this recently described and controversial entity is made with a discussion of its embryologic foundations and distinction from chordoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Pathology, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8118, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kyriakos
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Totty
authors.forename: Lawrence G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Lenke
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002812:Chondroma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009672:Notochord / Q000473:pathology*; D011859:Radiography; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery