title: Soft tissue chondroma mimicking "dumbbell" neurogenic tumour: a rare cause of lumbar radiculopathy.
abstract: Soft tissue chondromas are rare, benign extra-skeletal tumours of cartilaginous origin, which may rarely occur within the spinal canal. We report a patient who presented with left lumbar radiculopathy, and a peripherally-enhancing dumbbell shaped soft tissue mass involving both the intraspinal and extraspinal compartments on MRI. This was misdiagnosed as a neurogenic tumour and the patient underwent surgical removal. Histological examination revealed cartilaginous tissue. Although rare, soft tissue chondromas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of spinal dumbbell shaped tumours, especially if MRI shows peripheral contrast enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thien
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, 308433, Singapore.
authors.forename: Clarence Hai Yi
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, National Neuroscience Institute and Duke-NUS, Singapore. Electronic address: tchoyoson_lim@nni.com.sg.
authors.forename: C C Tchoyoson
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karandikar
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore.
authors.forename: Shree Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Dinesh
mesh_terms: D002812:Chondroma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011843:Radiculopathy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Lumbar spine; Radiculopathy; Soft tissue chondroma; Spinal canal