Chondroblastoma of Thoracic Vertebrae: a Case Report and Review of the Literature

Chondroblastoma is a rare benign cartilaginous bone tumor typically seen at the epiphysis of long axial bones. In this regard, there are rare findings about spinal chondroblastomas. We report a 29-year-old man with T1 vertebral chondroblastoma misdiagnosed with a traumatic fracture following an accident. The patient was admitted to our clinic with a chief complaint of axial back pain and kyphosis following posterior spinal fixation. We report his clinical and imaging data before his past operation and at this admission. Our patient underwent a two-stage operation. In the first stage, posterior spinal reconstruction and kyphosis correction was performed. In the second stage, mass resection was performed anteriorly in the T1 vertebral body as much as possible. The results confirmed the chondroblastoma diagnosis histologically. Our patient remained symptom-free with no growth in tumor remnant during 6 months follow-up. Although vertebral chondroblastoma is a sporadic tumor, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis when facing a vertebral infiltrative osteolytic mass, even when mimicking a traumatic fracture after the accident. In addition, histological confirmation is necessary under such conditions. We also reviewed the literature’s clinical presentations, imaging findings, and treatments of 34 case reports with vertebral chondroblastoma.