Complete removal of an intraspinal and extraspinal cervical chordoma in one stage using the lateral approach. Technical note.

The authors describe a precise surgical technique in which a large intraspinal and extraspinal, multivertebral, cervical chordoma was completely removed in one stage using the lateral approach. The patient in this case was a 29-year-old woman who presented with signs of radicular pain in the left C-3 area. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a large intra- and extraspinal multivertebral tumor from C-2 to C-5, a finding that suggested a cervical chordoma. The tumor was completely removed in one stage using the lateral approach while controlling the vertebral artery (VA), and a partial corporectomy of C2-5 was also performed. Results from a postoperative histopathological examination confirmed that the tumor was a typical chordoma. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Cervical chordomas are typically excised using a posterior-anterior surgical approach with partial resection of the tumor. The lateral approach was appropriate in this patient for complete resection in one stage, because it enabled the surgeons to control the VA and access both extraspinal and intraspinal components of the chordoma.