Management of chordoma in a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong

Abstract

© 2017 Hong Kong College of Radiologists. Objectives: To report the clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcome of 25 patients with chordoma. Methods: The medical records of 25 patients with chordoma treated in a regional hospital in Hong Kong between January 2000 and June 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Their clinical, pathological, treatment, and survival data were collected and analysed. Results: Of the 25 patients, 14 had skull base and 11 had sacral tumours; 78.6% and 100% were conventional chordoma, respectively. Their median ages were 41 and 64 years, respectively. In the skull base cohort, all 14 patients underwent surgery but none achieved R0 resection, and 13 received adjuvant radiotherapy. In the sacral cohort, eight of 11 patients underwent surgery and three of them achieved R0 resection. Four patients received postoperative radiotherapy. The 5-year local control rates for skull base and sacral chordoma were 29.6% and 17.9%, respectively, with a median time to progression of 42 (range, 8-68) and 33 (range, 4-76) months, respectively. The 5-year overall survival rates were 64.3% and 72.2%, respectively. Conclusion: Treatment outcome of chordoma patients in our hospital was suboptimal. Strategies to improve outcome should be explored.