title: Paediatric chondrosarcomas: a retrospective review of 17 cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chondrosarcoma is primarily a tumour of adulthood and old age. Some studies indicate that survival is worse in paediatric than in adult chondrosarcomas. In view of the rarity of paediatric chondrosarcoma, few large studies are currently available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated the clinical, radiological and pathological features of a single institution series of chondrosarcomas presenting in patients younger than 17 years between 1981 and 2014. Seventeen patients with central (10), peripheral (five) and periosteal (two) chondrosarcoma were retrieved. The patients received various treatments according to the dimension, stage and grading of the lesions. Only two tumours, treated with resection, recurred after the first diagnosis, at 11 and 108 months, respectively. All patients but one were alive without disease at the time of the last follow-up (median: 148 months). The one patient who died of disease 27 months after diagnosis had a grade 2 central chondrosarcoma of the metacarpal bone. He was affected by Maffucci syndrome and developed multiple bone and lung metastases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chondrosarcoma in children is rare but does exist, and is not limited to the head and neck region. Our findings do not support the current view that chondrosarcomas are more aggressive in children than in adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambarotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Righi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Picci
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bertoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manfrini
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.|Department of Pathology, Treviso Regional Hospital, Treviso, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dei Tos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Rizzoli Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vanel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D002648:Child; D002813:Chondrosarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D004687:Enchondromatosis / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: chondrosarcoma; paediatric; prognosis