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

Received: 23 December 2022    Accepted: 30 January 2023    Published: 9 February 2023
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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), which was discovered in a 35 years old male who presented with diplopia, diagnosed as 6th nerve palsy. MRI imaging showed an expansile clival lesion with sclerotic borders invading the cavernous sinus and encasing the carotid. Histopathology showed features of chordoma within BNCT. This case highlights the rarity of the entity especially in the clival region, the wide differential diagnosis of clear cell tumor arising in the clival region and the importance of radio-pathological correlation.

Published in Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11
Page(s) 1-4
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Chordoma, Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Morphology, Clival Mass

References
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[2] Peris-Celda M, Salgado-Lopez L, Inwards CY, Raghunathan A, Carr CM, Janus JR, Stokken JK, Van Gompel JJ. Benign notochordal cell tumor of the clivus with chordoma component: report of 2 cases. J Neurosurg. 2019 Sep 13: 1-5. doi: 10.3171/2019.6.JNS19529. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 31518983.
[3] Nishiguchi T, Mochizuki K, Tsujio T, Nishita T, Inoue Y. Lumbar vertebral chordoma arising from an intraosseous benign notochordal cell tumour: radiological findings and histopathological description with a good clinical outcome. Br J Radiol. 2010 Mar; 83 (987): e49-53. doi: 10.1259/bjr/63846600. PMID: 20197427; PMCID: PMC3473552.
[4] Ma X, Xia C, Liu D, Liu H, Wang C, Yu H. Benign notochordal cell tumor: a retrospective study of 11 cases with 13 vertebra bodies. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2014 Jun 15; 7 (7): 3548-54. PMID: 25120733; PMCID: PMC4128968.
[5] Paniagua Bravo, I. Alba de Caceres, L. Ibañez Sanz, J. A. et al. Tumors and tumor-like conditions of the clivus. a comprehensive review. European society of radiology. ECR 2012. DOI: 10.1594/ecr2012/C-1581.
[6] Kreshak J, Larousserie F, Picci P, Boriani S, Mirra J, Merlino B, Brunocilla E, Vanel D. Difficulty distinguishing benign notochordal cell tumor from chordoma further suggests a link between them. Cancer Imaging. 2014 Apr 22; 14 (1): 4. doi: 10.1186/1470-7330-14-4. PMID: 25609192; PMCID: PMC4212531.
[7] Yamaguchi T, Yamato M, Saotome K. First histologically confirmed case of a classic chordoma arising in a precursor benign notochordal lesion: differential diagnosis of benign and malignant notochordal lesions. Skeletal Radiol. 2002 Jul; 31 (7): 413-8. doi: 10.1007/s00256-002-0514-z. Epub 2002 May 15. PMID: 12107574.
[8] B. Riviere, T. Rousset, L. Bauchet, N. Champfleur, V. Szablewski, V. Costes and V. Rigau, "Case Report: An Unusual Osseous Lesion," Open Journal of Pathology, Vol. 3 No. 4, 2013, pp. 170-173. doi: 10.4236/ojpathology.2013.34031.
[9] Amer HZ, Hameed M. Intraosseous benign notochordal cell tumor. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2010 Feb; 134 (2): 283-8. doi: 10.1043/1543-2165-134.2.283. PMID: 20121620.
[10] Tateda S, Hashimoto K, Aizawa T, Kanno H, Hitachi S, Itoi E, Ozawa H. Diagnosis of benign notochordal cell tumor of the spine: is a biopsy necessary? Clin Case Rep. 2017 Nov 24; 6 (1): 63-67. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.1287. PMID: 29375839; PMCID: PMC5771900.
[11] Nishiguchi T, Mochizuki K, Ohsawa M, Inoue T, Kageyama K, Suzuki A, Takami T, Miki Y. Differentiating benign notochordal cell tumors from chordomas: radiographic features on MRI, CT, and tomography. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011 Mar; 196 (3): 644-50. doi: 10.2214/AJR.10.4460. PMID: 21343509.
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[13] Yamaguchi T, Iwata J, Sugihara S, McCarthy EF Jr, Karita M, Murakami H, Kawahara N, Tsuchiya H, Tomita K. Distinguishing benign notochordal cell tumors from vertebral chordoma. Skeletal Radiol. 2008 Apr; 37 (4): 291-9. doi: 10.1007/s00256-007-0435-y. Epub 2008 Jan 8. PMID: 18188556; PMCID: PMC2257990.
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  • APA Style

    Maryam Almurshed, Lamia Alsarraf. (2023). Clival Chordoma, Arising in Pre-existing Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Case Report. Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience, 7(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11

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    ACS Style

    Maryam Almurshed; Lamia Alsarraf. Clival Chordoma, Arising in Pre-existing Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Case Report. Clin. Neurol. Neurosci. 2023, 7(1), 1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11

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    AMA Style

    Maryam Almurshed, Lamia Alsarraf. Clival Chordoma, Arising in Pre-existing Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Case Report. Clin Neurol Neurosci. 2023;7(1):1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11,
      author = {Maryam Almurshed and Lamia Alsarraf},
      title = {Clival Chordoma, Arising in Pre-existing Benign Notochordal Cell Tumor, Case Report},
      journal = {Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-4},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cnn.20230701.11},
      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), which was discovered in a 35 years old male who presented with diplopia, diagnosed as 6th nerve palsy. MRI imaging showed an expansile clival lesion with sclerotic borders invading the cavernous sinus and encasing the carotid. Histopathology showed features of chordoma within BNCT. This case highlights the rarity of the entity especially in the clival region, the wide differential diagnosis of clear cell tumor arising in the clival region and the importance of radio-pathological correlation.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Maryam Almurshed
    AU  - Lamia Alsarraf
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cnn.20230701.11
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    T2  - Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience
    JF  - Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience
    JO  - Clinical Neurology and Neuroscience
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    AB  - 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), which was discovered in a 35 years old male who presented with diplopia, diagnosed as 6th nerve palsy. MRI imaging showed an expansile clival lesion with sclerotic borders invading the cavernous sinus and encasing the carotid. Histopathology showed features of chordoma within BNCT. This case highlights the rarity of the entity especially in the clival region, the wide differential diagnosis of clear cell tumor arising in the clival region and the importance of radio-pathological correlation.
    VL  - 7
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Author Information
  • Department of Pathology, Al Sabah Hospital, Kuwait

  • Department of Radiology, Ibn-Sina Hospital, Kuwait

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