Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the jaw bones: clinicopathologic study of 19 cases.

BACKGROUND

Patients with mesenchymal chondrosarcomas in general have a 5-year survival rate ranging from 42-54.6% and a 10-year survival rate of 28%. Nineteen cases of mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the jaw bones were reviewed to study their clinicopathologic features and to compare their clinical behavior with that of mesenchymal chondrosarcomas of other locations.

METHODS

The patients were 10 males and 9 females (age range, 2-51 years). Sixteen patients were age < 30 years, and the average age at presentation was 19 years. Eleven tumors involved the mandible and eight involved the maxilla.

RESULTS

Histologically, the classic picture of a bimorphic tumor, composed of islands of well differentiated hyaline cartilage juxtaposed to a small cell undifferentiated malignancy, was present in every case. Resection, including hemimandibulectomy and hemimaxillectomy, was the main treatment in 16 patients. Seven patients had local recurrence, and five patients developed distant metastases. Six patients died of disease, and the 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 82% and 56%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the jaw bones appears to have a more indolent course than mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of other anatomic