National Cancer Database report on chondrosarcoma of the head and neck

Background. Management of chondrosarcoma of the head and neck is largely ba sed on single-institution reports with small numbers accrued over several d ecades. Methods. The American College of Surgeons' National Cancer Data Base includ ed 400 cases of chondrosarcoma of the head and neck diagnosed between 1985 and 1995. Chi square analyses of selected contingency tables and Wilcoxon r egression analyses of selected survival stratifications were performed. Results. Histologic types included conventional (80.8%), myxoid (10.5%), an d mesenchymal (8.8%). The mesenchymal and myxoid subtypes were rare among w hite patients (17.1%) and more common among African-American (31.8%) and Hi spanic patients (44.9%). Treatment was most commonly surgery alone (59.5%) and surgery with irradiation (21.0%). Disease-specific survival was 87.2% a t 5 years and 70.6% at 10 years. Worse 5-year survival was associated with higher grade (67.3%), regional or distant spread (71.0%), and the myxoid (4 5.0%) or mesenchymal (53.2%) subtypes. Conclusions. Chondrosarcoma of the head and neck encompasses a variety of l esions that differ substantially by demographic and tumor characteristics. Individual tumors can be classified further according to site of origin, hi stologic subtype, and tumor grade, which can be used to predict biologic be havior and prognosis. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.