Chondroblastoma of bone in the extremities: a multicenter retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Chondroblastoma is a rare benign cartilage tumor that commonly occurs in children and adolescents. This study was designed to review the epidemiologic characteristics and outcomes of surgical management in a large series of patients with extremity chondroblastoma.

METHODS: We performed a multicenter retrospective analysis of 199 patients with extremity chondroblastoma. Clinical data, radiographic images, histological findings, treatment, and outcome were analyzed.

RESULTS: There were 145 male patients and fifty-four female patients with a mean age of 18.0 years. The most commonly involved bone was the proximal part of the tibia (fifty-five patients [27.6%]), followed by the proximal part of the femur (fifty-two patients [26.1%]) and the distal part of the femur (thirty-eight patients [19.1%]). Prior to presentation, 73.4% (146 of 199 patients) experienced pain. The mean duration of pain and other symptoms was 8.7 months. The physis was open in 25.7%, it was closing in 22.2%, and it was closed in 52.1% of the patients at the time of presentation. One hundred and twenty-six patients had at least twenty-four months of follow-up; their mean follow-up duration was 62.1 months (range, twenty-four to 190 months). Initial treatment was curettage for 119 patients (94.4%) and en bloc resection for seven patients (5.6%). The local recurrence rate was 5.0% after curettage and 0% after resection. The only significant factor related to recurrence was the location of the lesion in the proximal part of the humerus (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Chondroblastoma occurs most frequently in the proximal part of the tibia and the proximal part of the femur with significant male predilection. In this series, recurrence was most frequent in the proximal part of the humerus. Our results suggest that curettage and bone-grafting provide favorable local control and satisfactory functional outcome for patients with this disease.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.