Abstract
Chondrosarcoma (CS) is a malignant tumor affecting the bones while atypical cartilaginous tumors (ACTs) are chondral tumors with moderate cellularity, mild atypia, and with myxoid changes and mild metastatic ability. Both can have one of the worst prognoses if not identified early enough. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been one of the modalities to detect such tumors and we aim to determine the common characteristic and features to be seen while screening for CS or ACTs. We conducted a systematic review of the previously published reports that investigated the diagnostic ability of MRI and the reported characteristics that can differentiate between ACTs and high-grade chondrosarcomas (HGCS). A comprehensive relevant database search was performed to include all the relevant studies. Among these studies, seven studies investigated the overall accuracy in the classification of the different chondroma types. Additionally, many studies reported the characteristic findings of each tumor according to the MRI results. These characteristics mainly included trapped fat, bone marrow edema, cortical damage, and soft-tissue expansion. Therefore, further attention should be given to these criteria for better assessment, differentiation, and favorable outcomes. MRI can efficiently identify some of the characteristics of both ACTs and HGCS. However, combining it with other radiological modalities may lead to a better differentiation. The detection of ACTs and HGCS lesions with MRI solely has been doubted before in the literature.
Highlights
BackgroundChondrosarcoma (CS) is a malignant tumor that primarily affects bones
The main feature of this tumor is that it has a high tendency to produce cartilages where it commonly occurs in long bones as a central CS form
In high-grade chondrosarcomas (HGCS), two studies [40,42] reported a high rate of detection; Yoo et al [41] reported the lowest rate, which was significant when compared to the atypical cartilaginous tumors (ACTs) group (P
Summary
Chondrosarcoma (CS) is a malignant tumor that primarily affects bones. It is one of the most common tumors in this field following osteosarcoma and multiple myelomas and was first described in 1939 by Lichtenstein and Jaffe [1,2]. Our criteria included many studies that investigated the efficacy of MRIs to differentiate between the different types of CS especially between low-grade and other advanced highly malignant forms of bone CS. Full-text download and screening were done to include all the relevant studies that met our criteria These criteria included studies that investigated the diagnostic ability of MRI in the classification of the different forms of CS before biopsy or preoperatively based on the histopathological findings of these forms and the presence of reported characteristics of the imaging ability in studies that investigated adult patients. A sheet for the pre-planned included outcome effectiveness of MRIs to differentiate between the different forms of CSs and the characteristics of this imaging Another sheet was established to assess the quality of the included studies.
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