What Is Chordoma?
Chordoma is a pathological consideration in which there is development of malignant tumors in the off-white , specially of the spikelet and the base of the skull . Chordoma in itself is an passing rarified circumstance of all malignant term involving the bones or so amounting to less 1 % example .
The location of Chordoma get it a unmanageable condition to treat due to its close law of proximity to extremely critical structures of the body like Einstein and spinal cord even though these tumors are relatively dull ontogenesis .
The mainstay of treatment for Chordoma is a combination of surgery with radiation andchemotherapy . The reason as to how Chordoma educate is that , there is a cartilage like structure in the fetus when the baby is developing which facilitates formation of the spine . Once the spine is formed it replaces the notchcord . This happen during the six months of foetal ontogenesis . In some instance , some part of the notchcord stay and this is where Chordomas originate from .
Chordoma tends to fall out mostly in the sacrum , coccyx , or at the base of the skull , although they may come anywhere along the distance of the spine . The usual eld of onslaught of Chordoma is between 50 and 70 years of years , although in some rare case young individuals and even children may have Chordoma .
Chordoma is quite a serious and liveliness threatening condition and run to spread to other areas of the soundbox , usually the lung and thus former signal detection and treatment is of uttermost grandness .
What Are The Causes Of Chordoma?
As submit above , the beginning effort of maturation of Chordoma is the cadaver of notchcord that is present during fetal exploitation and facilitates development of the spine . This notchcord is replaced by the spikelet during the six weeks of development of the fetus but in some fount some parts of the notchcord still remains and this tardy results in exploitation of Chordoma .
What really causes these cells of the notchcord to become malignant is still not very clear and research is go on to name this one aspect of the organization of Chordoma .
What Are The Symptoms Of Chordoma?
Since Chordoma is a slow growing tumour , the patient may be have symptom for many age before he or she looks for a treatment of the symptoms . The symptoms of Chordoma depend on the locating of the tumor and let in :
If the tumor is at the foot of the skull then the patient may have symptpms of frequent headaches or vision disturbance
If the neoplasm is present in the spikelet then the patient may experience symptoms of pain in the neck in the area of the neoplasm namely the cervix , back , or sacrococcygeal arena . If the neoplasm constrict an adjoining brass then the symptom experienced by the patient may mime that of aherniated discand the symptoms may include pain in the neck , weakness , numbness and tingling in the upper and lower extremities .
If the neoplasm is present in the groin area then the patient may experience symptoms ofgroin pain , gut and vesica dysfunction , indifference and tingling in the lower extremity , and weakness of the lower extremities .
How Is Chordoma Diagnosed?
to diagnose Chordoma the physician will take a detailed history of the patient as to when the symptoms start . A exhaustive physical examination will be performed to audit the area of pain and weakness .
Advanced radiological study in the contour of CT andMRI scanof the affected area may be done which will clearly suggest the presence of a tumor . Once a neoplasm is identified then a biopsy of the tumour is taken which in suit of Chordoma will be malignant and thus will confirm a diagnosis of Chordoma . Once Chordoma has been diagnosed the next whole step is to stage the tumor which is helpful in formulating a treatment design for the patient .
For this , other investigational studies will be performed to see if the tumor has spread to other share of the body and will let in blood tests , aCT scanof the lung , and a bone scan to face at the status of the ivory which will get affected due to the Chordoma .
How Is Chordoma Treated?
As submit above , Chordoma is very difficult to treat due to its close proximity to the vital structures of the body like the brain and spinal electric cord . Chemotherapy and standard radiation usually does not cure the trouble .
Thus , surgery is most often recommend as the best discourse plan for cover Chordoma . This is combined with radiation sickness discussion . If the patient is a poor candidate for operating theater due to medical comorbidities or if the tumour is located in a place where operative excision is not potential , then radiation treatment is done alone to help slow up down the progress of the tumor .
Proton radio beam therapy is a very new and effective mode of treating and slow down down the progression of Chordoma . The good manner to perform surgical removal of the tumor is to move out the neoplasm along with some healthy tissue along with it .
This may leave in some neurological disfunction like when a tumor is remove from the sacrum then it may lead to some bowel and vesica disfunction or lower extremity failing but on the brighter side it will off the tumor and preclude dissemination of Chordoma .
What Is The Prognosis Of Chordoma?
The overall prognosis of Chordoma is dependent on various cistron . It calculate on the location of the neoplasm , the treatments that can be given , the reply of the patient to those handling , eld and overall health of the patient and the like . A skilled operating surgeon is the best person to suggest a forecast for a condition like Chordoma but with early detection and appropriate handling many individuals live a normal life and get cured from Chordoma .
