Chondrogenic tumors of the jaws

Abstract

1. 1. Chondrogenic tumors of the jaws are extremely uncommon as is evident from the small number of cases reported in the literature. 2. 2. According to the literature reviewed, chondrogenic tumors appear to be more often malignant than benign when occurring in the jaws. Thirty-six cases of chondrosarcoma have been reported, as compared to eighteen cases of benign cartilaginous tumors. 3. 3. The histologic differentiation between benign and malignant chondrogenic tumors does not often accurately predict the conduct of the tumor and, therefore, 20 per cent of the cases reported in the literature were inadvertently underdiagnosed at the first microscopic interpretation. 4. 4. When benign, chondrogenic tumors grow very slowly, are locally invasive, difficult to remove completely and, therefore, are apt to recur. It is feasible that some of them, after long periods of time, may undergo malignant transformation. 5. 5. Chondrogenic tumors occur with almost equal frequency in the maxilla and mandible. In the maxilla, the most common site of involvement is the anterior alveolar region. In the mandible, the pre-molar and molar regions, the symphysis and the coronoid and condylar processes may be involved. 6. 6. The average age of patients with chondrosarcomas of the jaws (thirty-six cases) is approximately forty years. Eighty per cent of the cases occurred from the third to the sixth decades with the highest incidence in the third and fifth decades. (Fig. 10.) 7. 7. Chondrogenic tumors showed no racial predilection in the reported cases. However, both cases discussed in detail in this paper occurred in Negroes. 8. 8. Chondrosarcomas of the jaws seem to offer a more serious prognosis than osteogenic sarcomas. The five year survival rate in chondrosarcomas of the jaws appears to be much lower than the 31 per cent reported by Kragh [21] in osteogenic sarcomas. 9. 9. Radical surgical treatment appears to be the method of choice. Radiation therapy may be used as an adjunct in recurrences and as a form of palliation.