Tumores rari et inusitati. Chordoma in a lumbar vertebral transverse process: a case report and review of the literature.

Chordoma is a rare tumour of the skeleton that develops from notochordal elements. It occurs in the midline of the body particularly at the upper and lower ends of the vertebral columns. This paper reports a case of chordoma of unusual localization in the transverse process of a lumbar vertebra in a 30-year-old man with review of the literature. The early confinement of the tumour to a vertebral transverse process has never been reported. The scarcity with which chordoma is diagnosed in Jordan and the clinical presentation of the case reported are discussed.