Effective irradiation of a metastatic region of the lung in a patient with extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma.

Complete obstruction of the right main bronchus occurred in a 76-year-old woman due to pulmonary metastasis from the extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC) which had been detected 5 years earlier. Treatment with Nd-YAG laser and biopsy forceps opened up the lumen of the right main bronchus 90%, and then X-irradiation was given toward the remaining tumor. The tumor disappeared almost completely following radiotherapy and such a state had lasted for several years until she died of old age at the age of 81. We judged that radiotherapy had been effective for this tumor. To date, the information concerning the effect of radiotherapy on this disease is insufficient.