CHONDROSARCOMA OF THE TEMPORAL BONE

Eight patients with a chondrosarcoma of the temporal bone have been tr eated at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery over a 1 6-year-period. Patients usually presented with symptoms and signs of l ower cranial nerve pulsies, though in most cases these resolved after surgery. This result, combined with the fact long-term survival can be achieved, makes surgical treatment of these tumours the best option, as the response to primary radiotherapy is uncertain. Surgical access is difficult, but an infratemporal approach is probably the most satis factory. The use of post-operative adjuvant radiotherapy may provide s ome benefit. Long-term follow-up is necessary, and for this magnetic r esonance imaging (MRI) is preferable to computed tomography (CT) scann ing.