A unique case of distant skin metastasis from chondroid chordoma

Cutaneous Metastasis from Cervical Spinal Chordoma: Case Report and Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Chordomas are rare primary tumors of the bone that arise from embryonic notochord. They are locally aggressive tumors with a high tendency for postsurgical recurrence. On the other hand, distant metastases are rare. When they occur, they involve lungs, liver, lymph nodes, and bones. Skin and subcutaneous tissue involvement is even rarer and usually occurs by direct extension of the primary tumor or by local recurrence. Distant cutaneous metastasis from chordoma is an exceptional finding, with fewer than 20 cases reported in the literature. All the cutaneous metastases described derive from sacral chordomas, except for 2 cases in which the source of metastasis is skull-base chordomas.

CASE DESCRIPTION

We report the case of a 55-year-old man with skin metastasis from a cervical chordoma.

CONCLUSIONS

Metastasis has to be taken into account in the differential diagnosis when a new skin lesion appears in a patient with a past medical history of chordoma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of cutaneous metastasis from spinal cervical chordoma. A systematic literature review was performed.

The clincoradiologic spectrum of notochordal derived masses

The notochord is an essential part of human development that regresses with age. Masses derived from notochordal tissue may be encountered during imaging of the neuroaxis. Fortunately, the majority of these are benign and can usually be differentiated by radiological and clinical findings. In this manuscript, we discuss the clinical and radiologic presentation of the four notochordal derived masses and present a brief overview of their management.

On a Rare Cutaneous Metastasis from a Sacrococcygeal Chordoma

Chordomas are rare malignant tumors of notochordal origin and are rare locally aggressive ones with a metastatic potential. The skin rarely is seen as metastatic site. We describe a case of an adult woman with cutaneous metastasis of a primary sacral chordoma excised ten years before, which appeared as a painless cutaneous mass located in the dorsal region. Once removed, the surgical specimen was formalin fixed and in paraffin embedded. Sections were stained with haematoxylin-eosin, and histochemical and immunohistochemical investigations were performed. Histologically, the neoplasia was characterized by cords or single tumor cells with an abundant myxoid stroma, conspicuous pale vacuolated cytoplasm (the classic “physaliphorous cells”), and mild nuclear atypia. Mitotic activity was scanty. At immunohistochemistry, the tumor cells were diffusely positive for S-100 protein, pan-keratins, EMA, and vimentin. A diagnosis of cutaneous metastasis of chordoma was performed. This case illustrates a diagnostic challenge because of the unusual presentation of an already rare tumor.