Childhood soft tissue chondroma: a case report

A Rare Case of Acute-Onset Spastic Quadriparesis Caused by a Chondroma of the Cervical Spine

Chondromas are benign cartilaginous tumors that occur very rarely in the spine. Moreover, chondromas of the extraskeletal origin are also very rare. In this case report, we describe an extremely rare case of chondroma arising from the ligamentum flavum in the cervical spine. A 67-year-old man presented to our clinic with acute-onset spastic quadriparesis. We performed emergent magnetic resonance imaging and found an epidural mass in the right ligamentum flavum at C4-C5. The acute-onset presentation was suspicious for intraligamentous hematoma in the ligamentum flavum at this level. We performed emergency decompression surgery and en bloc removal of the epidural mass with the right C4 and C5 lamina. The lesion had the appearance of cartilaginous tissue rather than hematoma. Based on the histological investigation, the final diagnosis was intraligamentous chondroma of the cervical spine. The quadriparesis improved postoperatively, as did the results of manual muscle testing in the affected area, and he was able to resume walking independently with a cane. At the one-year follow-up, the manual muscle testing results were almost normal. Surgeons should keep in mind the possibility of benign tumors including chondroma of the cervical spine when a patient presents with acute-onset quadriparesis.

Chondro-Osseous Lesions of Soft Tissue

Soft tissue lesions can contain bone or cartilage matrix as an incidental, often metaplastic, phenomenon or as a diagnostic feature. The latter category includes a diverse group ranging from self-limited proliferations to benign neoplasms to aggressive malignancies. Correlating imaging findings with pathology is mandatory to confirm that a tumor producing bone or cartilage, in fact, originates from soft tissue rather than from the skeleton. The distinction can have dramatic diagnostic and therapeutic implications. This content focuses on the gross, histologic, radiographic, and clinical features of bone or cartilage-producing soft tissue lesions. Recent discoveries regarding tumor-specific genetics are discussed.

Case presentation of soft tissue parapharyngeal chondroma in a pediatric patient

Soft tissue chondromas are uncommon benign tumors found mostly in the hands and feet and rarely reported in the pediatric population. In this case presentation we describe a 10 year old boy who had an MRI for facial paralysis due to Ramsey Hunt Syndrome, which incidentally revealed a parapharyngeal mass. He underwent transoral resection of the mass without complication, and histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of soft tissue chondroma. This case is unique due to the unusual location of the tumor and its presentation in a child.

Skin hamartoma on the hand of a newborn infant

Skin hamartoma is an extremely rare disease on the hand in newborn infants. Reported herein is the case of a newborn infant who presented with a skin hamartoma on the hand. The patient was a girl born at 37 weeks of gestational age. The mass was seen on her proximal left thumb at birth. The mass had a spherical diameter of 4 cm and was pedunculated. One the day after birth, the stalk on the mass was ligated in the neonatal intensive care unit. The mass was diagnosed as skin hamartoma on histopathology. At 1 year of age, the child had good hand function, and no recurrence of the neoplasia was evident.

Extraskeletal cartilaginous, osseous, and chordoid tumors in children and adolescents

Extraskeletal cartilaginous, osseous, and chordoid tumors are extraordinarily rare in children and adolescents. These lesions are diagnostically challenging due to their rarity and their overlap with metastatic osteosarcoma, reactive or metabolic calcifying and bone-forming masses, various pseudosarcomatous proliferations such as myositis ossificans, and other rare genetic or metabolic disorders. This article reviews the clinicopathologic features and differential diagnosis of extraskeletal cartilaginous, osseous, and chordoid neoplasms in the first two decades of life and highlights the use of diagnostic adjuncts.

Extraskeletal chondroma: another diagnostic possibility for a soft tissue axillary mass in an adolescent

Extraskeletal chondroma is a benign cartilaginous tumor that occurs predominantly in the soft tissues near small joints of the hands and feet. There are rare reports of the lesion in other sites, such as the head, neck, trunk, oral cavity, larynx, and pharynx. We present a case of an axillary mass in a 15-year-old girl who underwent MRI examination and resection, with the ultimate diagnosis of an extraskeletal chondroma, in order to expand the differential diagnosis of an axillary soft tissue mass in an adolescent.

A case of congenital soft tissue chondroma

Soft tissue chondromas are rare benign tumors unrelated to bone that arise primarily in the distal extremities, especially in the fingers of middle-aged adults. We report an extremely rare case of congenital soft tissue chondroma, arising in the left great toe of a new-born infant. The present case is, to our knowledge, the first to be described in the dermatologic literature and the second reported case of congenital soft tissue chondroma.

Massive cardiac chondroma presenting with heart failure and superior vena cava obstruction in a teenage boy

Histologically benign soft-tissue chondromas have been reported at many anatomical sites but are an uncommon cause of soft tissue mass lesions in childhood, accounting for less than 1% of cases. The most frequent sites for extraosseous soft-tissue chondromas are the hands and feet. For the extremely rare visceral chondromas, the site can be lung, where they may represent a component of Carney's syndrome of extra-adrenal paraganglioma, pulmonary chondroma, and epithelioid leiomyosarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract. Primary cardiac chondromas are exceptionally rare in patients of any age although cardiac chondrosarcoma, both primary and metastatic, is well reported. We present a case of a teenage boy with a fatal cardiac chondroma

Supernumerary ring chromosomes derived from the long arm of chromosome 12 as the primary cytogenetic anomaly in a rare soft tissue chondroma

Supernumerary ring chromosomes varying with respect to both size and number were found as the primary cytogenetic anomaly in a rare benign soft tissue chondroma resected from the floor of the mouth of a 3-year-old girl. Reverse fluorescence in situ hybridization paint probes prepared by polymerase chain reaction from microdissected rings produced fluorescent signal over two large but discontinuous parts of the chromosome 12 long arm, subdivided into four regions. This case expands the spectrum of mesenchymal neoplasms in which ring chromosomes have been described as the primary genetic anomaly. A review of the literature reporting similar findings in other soft tissue tumors further supports the possibility that low-level amplification of chromosome 12 long-arm regions may contribute to abnormal cellular proliferation in a variety of mesenchymal tumors. Genes implicated in the control of the cell cycle such as sarcoma amplified sequence (SAS), the human homolog of the murine double-minute type 2 gene (MDM-2), proto-oncogenes CHOP/GADD153, GLI, A2MR, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4), and the high mobility group (HMGIC) gene implicated in mesenchymal tumorigenesis are all located on the long arm of chromosome 12. Chromosomal abnormalities involving the 12q13-q15 region are associated with a wide range of benign soft tissue tumors and sarcomas.

Periosteal chondroma of the cuboid presenting in a 7-year-old-boy

This case report discusses the finding of a periosteal (juxtacortical) chondroma of the cuboid in a 7-year-old male. While this lesion is well recognized in the tubular bones of adults, this case is unusual due to the child's age, the site of the lesion (cuboid), and the difficulty in establishing the diagnosis due to the cellular atypia. The child was treated with marginal resection and curettage with no evidence of local recurrence on follow-up. A review of the literature is also included in the discussion.