Keywords:
Head and neck, Oncology
Authors:
U. Müller1, R. A. Kubik-Huch1, C. Ares2, R. Löw1, E. B. Hug2; 1Baden/CH, 2Villigen/CH
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2010/C-1765
Methods and Materials
Between January 2007 and June 2009, 71 patients (n=32 females, n=39 males, median age 48) with skull base tumors (n=50 chordomas, n=21 chondrosarcomas) underwent MRI in preparation of Proton Radiation Therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Amongst these histopathology revealed two (10%) chondroid chordomas and three (6%) conventional higher graded (grade 2) chondrosarcomas. Figure1 (Table 1) summarizes some of the demographic characteristics of both patient groups. The mean age was similar in both groups of patients. A male predominance was found in the chordoma group.
The Proton Radiation Therapy treatment for some of the patients and its results were reported previously in a smaller series (Ares et al.).
All MRI studies at our institute, predominantly after prior surgical tumor resection, were performed using a standardized protocol (STIR, T2w, T1w, contrast enhanced T1w, 3 - 4 mm) on the 1.5 T Siemens Avanto scanner. Initial MRI scans of all patients acquired at the time of diagnosis were re-evaluated. MRIs where investigated for initial and post surgical tumor extent, signal intensities and involved anatomy; MRI features were compared to histopathology.