[A long term follow-up study of the skull base chordomas].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognostic features of the skull base chordomas treated with neurosurgical operations.


METHODS
One hundred and six patients of skull base chordomas were enrolled by means of telephone, letter and out-patient recheck who presented between May 1993 and June 2005. They were scored by Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) during admission respectively, before period of discharge and follow-up. SPSS Life-table method was used to calculate the recurrent rates and survival rates.


RESULTS
Seventy-nine patients were followed for 10-158 months. The average period was 63.9 months. Survival rates of 1, 3, 5 and 10 year were 87.2%, 79.4%, 67.6% and 59.5%, meanwhile recurrent rates of 1, 3, 5 and 10 years were 19.1%, 34.7%, 52.9% and 88.3% respectively. The mean KPS on admission, before discharge and follow-up were 71.0, 72.5 and 67.1 respectively, which demonstrated the significant differences between the before discharge item and the follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
The prognosis of the skull base chordomas was poor. The recurrent rate was ascending year by year, meanwhile the survival rate was descending and 8 years later the tendency became gently. Neurosurgical treatments can improve majority long-term qualities, so they should be viewed as the first treatment choice.
Wu
Zhen
Z
Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, the Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China.
Zhang
Jun-ting
JT
Zhang
Li-wei
LW
Jia
Gui-jun
GJ
Wang
Liang
L
D000328:Adult; D002817:Chordoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome