Chondrosarcoma: A 15 Year Review at a Tertiary Health Facility in North Central Nigeria

Aims: This study is aimed at documenting the demographics and grade of all cases of chondrosarcoma at a tertiary health care facility in the north central part of Nigeria. The age, sex, anatomical site affected and grade was documented for all cases.

Study Design: This is a hospital-based retrospective and descriptive study from 1st January 2005 to 31st December 2019

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Histopathology, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau State in North-Central Nigeria between 1st January 2005 to 31st December 2019.

Materials and Methods: All 12 cases of chondrosarcoma diagnosed during the period of review were included in the study. A total of 165 cases (103 benign and 62 malignant) of primary bone tumours diagnosed within the period were also reviewed to enable the calculation of the appropriate percentages for chondrosarcoma. The age, sex and anatomical site affected was obtained by accessing the patient surgical pathology reports, case files and cancer registry entries. The histological grade was determined for each case of chondrosarcoma.

Results: The 12 cases of chondrosarcoma diagnosed during the period of review accounted for 7.3% and 19.3% of the 165 primary bone tumours and 62 primary malignant bone tumours diagnosed respectively during the period of review. Chondrosarcoma showed a male predominance with the peak period of diagnosis in the 4th decade. Common anatomical sites affected were the femur, humerus and tibia. Four cases (33.3%) out of the total of 12 were grade I, 6 cases (50.0%) were grade II and 2 cases (16.6%) were grade III chondrosarcomas.

Conclusion: Chondrosarcoma is a relatively rare tumour in our environment with an average of less than 1 case diagnosed per year in our tertiary health care facility. It has a male predominance and a tendency to occur in relatively younger patients in our study in comparison to the age of occurrence in other parts of the world.