Case: A 73-year-old male patient presented with a 3-month history of back pain. In bone scintigraphy and the FDG PET-CT scan (fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission computed tomography), highly suspect uptake levels were found in TH12-L1. Accordingly, an osteodestructive process was found on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Following a successfully performed biopsy of TH12, histologic analysis of the bone material revealed a chondrosarcoma (G1; T4N2M0). Complete resection of the tumor was successfully performed, since chondrosarcoma are resistant to radiation and chemotherapy.
Conclusion: As chondrosarcoma is a rare bone neoplasm, it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of lower back pain to initiate adequate treatment.
Keywords: Back pain; Bone turnover markers; FDG PET-CT; Spine; Vertebral tumor.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, ein Teil von Springer Nature.