Chondrosarcoma in children and adolescents.

Chondrosarcoma is rare in children. Only 12 patients with a diagnosis of chondrosarcoma were treated at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston during the period from 1957 to 1980. Pediatric chondrosarcoma has a relatively rapid onset, manifested by pain, a palpable mass and neurological symptoms with the lesion localized in the spinal column. The pelvis was the most frequent location. Ten patients had primary and two patients had secondary chondrosarcoma. Of the latter two, one developed chondrosarcoma in a preexisting osteochondroma and the other had irradiation for neuroblastoma. The poorest outcomes were in patients who had involvement of the pelvic girdle and spinal column. Grade 2 and 3 lesions had the worst prognoses with metastases occurring within 12 months. Eight patients died at the time of study, and the longest survival time was 80 months. If surgically feasible, the treatment is radical excision. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy should be reserved for recurrences or distant metastasis.