Clival Chordoma, Arising in Pre-existing Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Case Report

Abstract

: Lesions of notochordal origin are unusual surgical cases that have a broad spectrum of differentiation, from remnants to benign tumors -namely “benign notochordal cell tumor BNCT”-to malignant chordoma. These lesions arise within the vertebral bodies at the ends of axial skeleton, clivus and lumbar areas. Chordoma, is a malignant destructive lesion extending from bone to surrounding soft tissue. It is hypothesized to arise from its rare benign counterpart, BNCT as evidenced by their co-existence in rare case reports, in lumbar area, an even more rare in clival region. These benign forms are even scarce to see in surgical pathology specimen and carry a histological resemblance in morphology to malignant chordoma if not recognized. Here, we report a case of chordoma arising from a benign notochordal cell tumor (BNCT)