Tracheal chondrosarcoma with an overview of other tumors of the trachea.

Chondrosarcomas of the trachea are extraordinarily rare tumors, with only four cases documented in the English literature. An additional case is reported with conventional and computed tomography correlation. Because primary tumors of the trachea are such rare neoplasms, a review of the subject is presented to put chondrosarcomas of the trachea into perspective. Malignant tumors are slightly more common than benign tumors of the trachea and occur more frequently in adults. The most common tumor involving the trachea is carcinoma, accounting for 80 to 90% of all cases. This, however, represents only 0.2% of all malignancies of the respiratory tract.