Occasionally report of sacral chordoma; treatment and review of literature

Introduction. Brain notochordal cell tumors (BTCN) are lesions arising from notochordal differentiation which affect the axial skeleton. Presentation of case. We report a case of a patient treated in our General Surgery Unit of the University Hospital of Bari, Italy, with occasional finding of sacral chordoma at the histological examination. Discussion. Because of their location, sacral chordomas can affect bowel and bladder with organ specific symptoms. Radiotherapy may be used as a palliative treatment or for recurrence in those patients who cannot be submitted to surgery. Conclusions. Due to the high local recurrence rate radiation therapy should be considered mandatory after any type of chordoma resection. Multidisciplinary management of the disease is mandatory and improve patient outcomes. Patients should have maximal tumor debulking with adjuvant radiotherapy when possible.