SPINAL-CORD COMPRESSION BY THORACIC SPINE CHONDROMA - 2 CASES

We report two cases of thoracic spine chondroma in two girls aged 14 a nd 12 years. The lesion was revealed by signs of spinal cord compressi on and affected T1 and T7 respectively. Chondroma is a benign bone tum our, fairly frequent in the extremities but very rare in the spine. It accounts for 2.8 % of benign bone tumours and 12% of all bone tumours . 3.6% to 4% of chondroma are located in the spine. Out of 51 cases re ported in the literature 21 had been revealed by spinal cord compressi on, with an age range of 5 to 76 years. In all cases of spinal cord co mpression magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is necessary as first-line examination, but CT scans are still useful in the diagnosis and post-o perative follow-up of spinal chondroma because of the osteo-cartilagin ous nature of these tumors. The purpose of this study was to report tw o new cases of spinal cord compression by thoracic spine chondroma and to review the literature.