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Intra-articular extra-axial chordoma of the wrist: a case report with review of the current literature

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Abstract

Chordomas are rare bone malignancies that are thought to arise from remnants of the notochord and usually are located in the axial skeleton. Immunophenotypical matching neoplasms primarily found in appendicular locations, referred to as extra-axial chordoma, are rarely encountered by radiologists, surgeons, and pathologists. Only a few of these cases have been described in the literature with only one intra-articular case with involvement of the knee joint. We present the first case of an intra-articular extra-axial chordoma of the wrist. Diagnostic imaging patterns were initially ambiguous and histopathological reprocessing was crucial in order to determine the diagnosis of an intra-articular neoplasm with co-expression of cytokeratins, S-100 protein, and brachyury.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. H.-P. Engels – RIZ – Die Radiologen, Augsburg, Germany, for providing the radiological images included in this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jan Neumann.

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This case was presented at the 93rd meeting of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Knochentumoren e.V./Working Group on Bone Tumors in Zagreb 25.05.2019, receiving the AGKT-award as best presentation.

Melanie Boxberg and Klaus Woertler share senior authorship.

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Neumann, J., Gersing, A.S., Barth, T.F. et al. Intra-articular extra-axial chordoma of the wrist: a case report with review of the current literature. Skeletal Radiol 48, 2015–2020 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-019-03228-7

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