Chordoma: 6 years' experience at a tertiary centre.

Nine patients with a histologically proven diagnosis of chordoma seen at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital between January 1999 and December 2004 were retrospectively reviewed with respect to age, sex, presentation, location of tumour, treatment, response, recurrence, metastasis and follow up. Chordoma constituted 0.07% of total cancer cases registered over 6 years. Out of nine patients, eight were males and one was female with median age at time of diagnosis 52 years (range 34-68 years). All had sacrococcygeal lesions except one who had a spheno-occipital lesion. Seven patients had undergone either subtotal or gross total resection whereas only biopsy had been carried out in two of them. All patients received radiation therapy, seven in a postoperative setting and two for palliation. Follow-up period ranged from 2 to 50 months. Four patients died--the first after fourth fraction of radiation, second after 10 days of treatment, third of progressive lesion in sphenoidal region despite resection and radiation and fourth of local recurrence in the sacrococcyx. One patient developed distant metastases in the lungs and subcutaneous tissue over the scalp along with local recurrence; he is still alive. Two patients are locally free of disease whereas the other two were lost to follow up. The present analysis was undertaken to review our institutional experience with an aim to provide a practical approach to these tumours. In this report, these cases are discussed and the published works have been reviewed for the optimal management of patients with chordoma.