Background and objective: Skull base chordomas are clinically malignant because of the difficulty of total removal, high recurrence rate, and occasional drop metastasis. Although aggressive surgical resection and postoperative radiation have been recommended, the long-term outcome remains unsatisfactory.
Methods: From 1992 to 2011, we treated 24 patients with skull base chordoma using aggressive surgical removal as a principal strategy. Skull base approaches were selected according to tumor extension to remove the tumor and surrounding bone as completely as possible. After surgery, all patients were closely observed with MRI to find small and localized recurrent tumors, which were treated with gamma-knife radiosurgery or surgical resection. The mean postoperative follow-up duration was 10.2 years (range, 1-17.2 years).
Results: The 5-, 10-, and 15-year overall survival rates were 86%, 72%, and 72%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year progression-free survival rates were 47% and 35%, respectively. Tumor extension to the brainstem and partial tumor removal were the factors related to poor survival.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that aggressive surgical removal improves the long-term outcome of patients with skull base chordoma. We would like to emphasize that skull base chordomas should be aggressively removed using various skull base approaches.