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Imaging of Bone Tumors and Tumor-Like Lesions pp 375–392Cite as

Notochordal Tumours

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Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Diagn Imaging))

Key Points

• Notochordal tumors may be benign or malignant

• Notochordal tumors have a predilection for the spheno-occipital and sacral regions

• Benign notochordal tumors tend to be detected on MRI but demonstrate little or no abnormality on radiographs, CT or bone scintigraphy.

• Chordoma accounts for 50% of malignant sacral tumors.

• Sacral chordomas are predominently osteolytic with 90% showing varying degrees of calcification on CT, all showing an anterior soft tissue mass and 77% a posterior soft tissue mass on MRI.

• Biopsy identification of choirdoid tissue needs to be carefully correlated with MRI and CT appearances to decide if it represents BNCT or chordoma.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust, SY10 7AG, Oswestry, Shropshire, UK

    Victor N. Cassar-Pullicino

  2. Department of Musculoskeletal Pathology, The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust, SY10 7AG, Oswestry, Shropshire, UK

    D. C. Mangham

Authors
  1. Victor N. Cassar-Pullicino
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  2. D. C. Mangham
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MRI Department, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol Road South, Northfield, B31 2AP, Birmingham, UK

    A. Mark Davies

  2. Section of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Imaging Institute, Diagnostic Radiology/A21, School of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Ave., 44195, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Murali Sundaram

  3. Imaging Department, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol Road South, Northfield, B31 2AP, Birmingham, UK

    Steven L. J. James

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cassar-Pullicino, V., Mangham, D. (2009). Notochordal Tumours. In: Davies, A., Sundaram, M., James, S. (eds) Imaging of Bone Tumors and Tumor-Like Lesions. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77984-1_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77984-1_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-77982-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77984-1

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