Chordomas

Chordoma is a rare bone tumor, believed to derive from notochordal rests, which generally arises at the two extremities of axial skeleton. We present a literature review on chordomas. Diagnosis has been greatly improved by MRI and immunohistochemistry. Conversely, complementary immunohistochemistry, cytometry and cytogenetic techniques have failed to improve prognosis evaluation. Radical surgery with free surgical margins is the most accurate curative treatment. Progress in radiotherapy should offer new therapeutic perspectives in the future. The recognition of new entities such as giant notochordal rest or hamartoma, and notochordal cells benign tumor, can lead to confusion since there is no consensus regarding their nature and whether or not they correspond to chordoma precursors. Prudence should be the rule in order to ovoid overtreatment.