Intracranial mesenchymal chondrosarcoma with osteoid formation: report of a pediatric case

CASE REPORT: We present a case of a 14-year-old girl with a 3-week history of severe progressive headache and intermittent vomiting. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a large intensely enhancing mass, which seemed to arise from the right side of the cerebral fossa with implant base in the inferior face of the tentorium and significant mass effect on the nearby structures. A presumptive preoperative diagnosis of meningioma was made. Subtotal surgical resection was performed using the occipital approach. Histologically the neoplasms had the classic features of a mesenchymal chondrosarcoma associated with the focal presence of osteoid matrix. DISCUSSION: Clinical features, therapeutic approaches and prognosis of this rare tumour are discussed with regard to the known 30 cases in the literature.