Primary extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma of bone: Report of three cases and review of the literature

Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma is a rare neoplasm of soft tissue. The usual location is in deep parts of the proximal extremities and limb girdles in middle-aged adults. The bone location as primary location is extremely rare and few cases are reported. We present three cases arising in bone with molecular confirmation using both RT-PCR and FISH analysis. Patients include two men and one woman with an age of 62, 69 and 73 years old. The mean size of the lesion was 13. cm (range 8-18. cm). Tumors arose in the iliac bone in two cases and in the proximal humerus in the other case. At time of diagnosis the three cases show bone cortex and soft tissue involvement. On imaging, lesions have a lobular pattern, are purely lytic, but take up contrast medium after injection. Two patients are alive with disease (local recurrence and lung metastasis) after five years and five years and six months, respectively and one patient died of disease two years after the diagnosis. The primary extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma of bone seems to have a more aggressive behavior than the soft tissue counterpart. The molecular confirmation of diagnosis using RT-PCR is necessary to do the differential diagnosis with other entities, in particular with myoepithelioma that shows similar morphological features and EWSR1 and FUS genes rearrangement.