The clinical picture depends on the size or extent, location, and stage.
The following symptoms and complaints may indicate chondrosarcoma:
Main symptoms
- Bone pain that also occurs at rest and/or at night and increases in intensity – only in the later course!
- Swelling, deformation, overheating at joints and bones (palpable) – the swelling may be reddish in color
- Restriction of mobility of the affected body part
- Fractures (bone fractures) after minor trauma, mostly femur (thigh bone) and humerus (upper arm bone) are affected – the bone loses strength due to the tumor
- Paresis (paralysis)
Associated symptoms
- Lymphadenopathy (lymph node enlargement).
- B-symptomatology (see below).
B-symptomatics
- Severe night sweats (wet hair, soaked sleepwear).
- Unexplained, persistent or recurrent fever (> 38 °C).
- Unintentional weight loss (> 10% percent of body weight within 6 months).
Localization
Typical of primary bone tumors is that they can be assigned to a characteristic localization in addition to a specific age range. They arise clustered at the sites of most intense longitudinal growth (metaepiphyseal/articular area).
The following questions should be answered by diagnostic measures:
- Localization in the skeleton → Which bone is affected?
- Localization in the bone → epiphysis* (joint end of the bone (near the joint)), metaphysis* (transition from epiphysis to diaphysis), diaphysis* (long bone shaft), central, eccentric (not central), cortical (at the solid outer shell of the bone), extracortical, intraarticular (within the joint capsule).
Chondrosarcoma commonly occurs in the long tubular bones of the humerus (upper arm bone; near the shoulder) and femur (thigh bone; proximal and distal), as well as in the ilium (intestine), pubic bone (symphysis), ischium, shoulder girdle, and ribs. It is often located close to the trunk, near the hip joint (femur and pelvis) and knee joint. The closer to the trunk a chondrosarcoma occurs, the more malignant (malignant) it is.
* Example of the structure of a long bone: epiphysis – metaphysis – diaphysis – metaphysis – epiphysis.
