Case History: 42-year-old male presented with pain in left ear with occasional bleeding for one year.
Initially, pain was mild in nature, pain increased gradually with increased in incidences of ear bleeding.
Figure 1. HRCT and CECT scan of left temporal bone. A heterogeneously enhancing soft tissue density mass lesion involving the base of the skull on the left side, petrous part of left temporal bone, left greater wing of sphenoid, medial and lateral pterygoid plate causing their lytic destruction associated with extension into left temporal lobe, left middle ear, and nasopharynx suggestive of skull based malignant mass lesion.
Figure 2. HRCT and CECT scan of left temporal bone. A heterogeneously enhancing soft tissue density mass lesion involving the base of the skull on the left side, petrous part of left temporal bone, left greater wing of sphenoid, medial and lateral pterygoid plate causing their lytic destruction associated with extension into left temporal lobe, left middle ear, and nasopharynx suggestive of skull based malignant mass lesion.
Figure 3. HRCT and CECT scan of left temporal bone. A heterogeneously enhancing soft tissue density mass lesion involving the base of the skull on the left side, petrous part of left temporal bone, left greater wing of sphenoid, medial and lateral pterygoid plate causing their lytic destruction associated with extension into left temporal lobe, left middle ear, and nasopharynx suggestive of skull based malignant mass lesion.
A large, well-defined, heterogeneously enhancing soft tissue density mass lesion of approximate size (40Ã30Ã42 mm) is noted involving the base of the skull.
The lesion encases the left intracranial internal carotid artery.
The lesion causes involvement of foramen rotundum, foramen ovale and foramen spinosum, and pars nervosa of jugular foramen.
Chondrosarcoma is a malignant neoplasm of cartilage-forming tissue and represents less than 1% of all intracranial tumors.
Characteristic findings of chondrosarcomas are collagen and cytoplasmic glycogen deposits.
MRI often shows a moderate to intensely enhancing mass with a lobular structure of high signal intensity on T2-weighted images and with strong peripheral rim and septal enhancement patterns.
The main differential diagnosis is chondromas, especially in the differentiation between a benign chondroma and a low-grade central chondrosarcoma.
Biopsy is necessary to make the diagnosis.
