Chondrosarcoma of the tibial head during pregnancy: a challenging diagnosis.

Chondrosarcoma is one of the most common malignant bone tumours in adults. However, it rarely occurs during pregnancy. Therefore, reports on surgical and medical management of this entity are hard to find. Different studies suggest a possible growth-enhancing effect of altered hormone levels on various bone tumours. The effect of pregnancy on growth characteristics of chondrosarcomas however remains unclear. We report a case of a 32-year-old pregnant woman with a newly occurred chondrosarcoma of the tibial head. Intense clinical monitoring and repeated MRI scans showed a tumour progression during pregnancy followed by the need of above-knee amputation after 30 weeks gestation. Spontaneous vaginal delivery after 38 weeks gestation was complicated by an amniotic infection syndrome and finally stopped, necessitating a caesarean section. Despite this there were no further complications to be mentioned. No local tumour recurrence or metastases could be detected in the staging CT scans following pregnancy. 2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.