Clinical significance of a wide excision policy for sacrococcygeal chordoma

Purpose: Surgical treatment of sacrococcygeal chordoma is very difficult and the recurrence rate is high. We investigated the outcomes of wide excision in 12 sacrococcygeal chordoma patients treated between 1983 and 2003. Methods: The 12 patients underwent primary wide excision. The conventional procedure was wide excision employing a chisel and airtome for sacral tumours, and in 1997 a new threadwire saw procedure was introduced. All 12 patients were included in a retrospective analysis of tumour- and treatment-related variables, and outcomes. Results: Six patients underwent surgery with a combined anterior-posterior approach at the cephalad sacral border. In 12 patients, 11 lesions were broadly excised, and in the 1 remaining patient the intralesional margin showed tumour contamination due to a fracture macroscopically. The latter patient received post-operative radiation therapy, but suffered a recurrence 8.0 years later. Three patients died before final follow-up: one from subsequent metastases, two elderly patients from complications. For the 10 chordoma patients, i.e. excluding the two who died due to complications, the 5, 10 and 20 years recurrence rates were 100, 66.7 and 66.7%, respectively. For the 12 patients, overall 5, 10 and 20 years survival rates were 83.3, 55.6 and 55.6%, respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggest that large chordoma should be widely excised, using a modified threadwire saw, with a combination of anterior-posterior procedures.