References for this Review were identified by searches of Medline, GoogleScholar, and PubMed for references from relevant articles using the search terms “chordoma”, “brachyury”, and “proton radiation”. Only articles published in English between 1970 and October, 2011, were included.
ReviewChordoma: current concepts, management, and future directions
Section snippets
Historical overview and epidemiology
Chordoma is a rare cancer that accounts for 1–4% of all bone malignancies.1 Although histologically considered to be a low-grade neoplasm, chordomas are highly recurrent, making their clinical progression very similar to that of malignant tumours.2, 3 Population-based studies using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database suggest an incidence of chordoma of 0·08 per 100 000, with predominance in men and peak incidence between 50–60 years of age.4 Chordomas have very low
Pathogenesis
Chordomas were first characterised microscopically by Virchow in 1857.7 He described unique, intracellular, bubble-like vacuoles that he referred to as physaliferous, a term now synonymous with their histopathology. These physaliferous features of chordoma remain a distinguishing, if not pathognomonic, feature. Virchow hypothesised that chordomas were derived from cartilage; however, more contemporary evidence suggests that they are derived from undifferentiated notochordal remnants that reside
Clinical presentation
Chordomas are indolent and slow growing, therefore they are often clinically silent until the late stages of disease. The clinical manifestations vary and depend on location. Skull-base chordomas often grow in the clivus and present with cranial-nerve palsies. Depending on their size and involvement of the sella, endocrinopathy can also occur.18 Other rare presentations include epistaxis and intracranial haemorrhage.19, 20 Chordomas of the mobile spine and sacrum can present with localised deep
Diagnosis and molecular characteristics
Accurate diagnosis of tumours of the spine and skull base is of valuable prognostic significance. Chordomas and chondrosarcomas represent two biologically distinct categories of mesenchymal neoplasms that share morphological similarity and often present in similar locations throughout the neuroaxis; however, they differ in response to treatment.32 Advances in diagnostically differentiating between these two diseases have provided considerable insight into the surgical and postsurgical
Chordomas of the mobile spine and sacrum
In the 1970s, Stener and Gunterberg39 first introduced the idea of wide en-bloc surgical resection for the treatment of sacral tumours. Since then, en-bloc excision has remained a central tenant in the surgical management of sacral chordoma. With the advent of more aggressive surgery and wider surgical margins, local control of disease recurrence has substantially improved for chordomas of the sacrum,40 spine,41 and skull base.42
Early findings linked local recurrence to violations of tumour
Radiation therapy
Despite major advances in surgical interventions, total en-bloc resection is attainable in roughly 50% of sacral chordomas, with much lower rates for chordomas of the spine and skull base; therefore, recurrence is common without en-bloc resection.25, 42, 43, 51 The use of radiotherapy as primary or adjuvant treatment for chordoma is debated. Unfortunately, stand-alone radiotherapy has proven to be ineffective when coupled with debulking or palliative therapy.24
Advances in radiation technology
Retreatment
Despite best efforts at initial treatment, most chordomas will recur or progress. There are very few reports of treatment protocols and outcomes for recurrent lesions. Different treatment regimens have been described for recurrent disease, including re-irradiation79 and reoperation.80, 81, 82 Toxicities often limit the ability to safely deliver an effective radiation dose to a previously radiated field, and the dose delivered depends highly on lesion location, volume, and patient age and
Medical treatment
Anthracycline, cisplatin, alkylating agents,84 and camptothecin analogues85 have been reported to affect chordomas, and some case reports have suggested sensitivity of one of the histological variants—dedifferentiated chordoma.86 Unfortunately, systematic review of the literature found chordomas to be insensitive to conventional chemotherapies.30, 31
Molecular profiling of chordomas has revealed that they overexpress platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR)B, PDGFRA, and KIT receptors,
Current research and future directions
Despite aggressive surgical measures and high-dose radiation, local recurrence of chordoma is the marker of treatment failure.96 Studies have identified a common gene duplication of the transcriptional regulator, brachyury, in patients with familial and sporadic chordoma.15 Furthermore, tyrosine kinases and transcriptional regulators have been shown to be overexpressed in chordoma. Studies targeting these kinase domains and their downstream effectors could provide translational therapies and
Search strategy and selection criteria
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Brachyury, a crucial regulator of notochordal development, is a novel biomarker for chordomas
J Pathol
Classic chordoma coexisting with benign notochordal cell rest demonstrating different immunohistological expression patterns of brachyury and galectin-3
J Clin Neurosci
Identification of nucleus pulposus precursor cells and notochordal remnants in the mouse: implications for disk degeneration and chordoma formation
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T (brachyury) gene duplication confers major susceptibility to familial chordoma
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Chordoma of the mobile spine. A clinicopathologic analysis of 40 patients
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Imaging findings in tumors of the sacrum
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Chordoma: a clinicopathologic study of metastasis
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Sacral chordoma: 40-year experience at a major cancer center
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Brachyury, SOX-9, and podoplanin, new markers in the skull base chordoma vs chondrosarcoma differential: a tissue microarray-based comparative analysis
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Chordoma: the nonsarcoma primary bone tumor
Oncologist
Chordoma: a cytologic study with histologic and radiologic correlation
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Chordoma and chondroid neoplasms of the spheno-occiput. An immunohistochemical study of 41 cases with prognostic and nosologic implications
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Chordoma: an immunohistologic study
Hum Pathol
Specificity of brachyury in the distinction of chordoma from clear cell renal cell carcinoma and germ cell tumors: a study of 305 cases
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High amputation of the sacrum for extirpation of tumors. Principles and technique
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Long-term clinical outcomes following en bloc resections for sacral chordomas and chondrosarcomas: a series of twenty consecutive patients
Spine
Chordoma of the mobile spine and sacrum: a retrospective analysis of a series of patients surgically treated at two referral centers
Ann Surg Oncol
Patient outcome at long-term follow-up after aggressive microsurgical resection of cranial base chordomas
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Operative management of sacral chordoma
J Bone Joint Surg Am
Operative treatment of sacrococcygeal chordoma. A review of twenty-one cases
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The transnasal transclival approach for clivus chordoma
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Ventral surgical approaches to craniovertebral junction chordomas
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Residual postoperative tumour volume predicts outcome after high-dose radiotherapy for chordoma and chondrosarcoma of the skull base and spine
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Expanded endoscopic endonasal approach for treatment of clival chordomas: early results in 12 patients
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Endoscopic endonasal transclival resection of chordomas: operative technique, clinical outcome, and review of the literature
J Neurosurg
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