Knowing Your Chordoma Care is in the Right Hands
Superior Treatment for Patients with Chordomas
As one of the most comprehensive brain tumor programs in the United States, the Pacific Brain Tumor Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute (PNI) offers world-class expert care. Ranked in the top 1% of neurology and neurosurgery programs in the nation, our center’s compassionate multidisciplinary specialists provide advanced, personalized treatment while focusing on our patients’ quality of life.
Affiliated with award-winning Providence hospitals Saint John’s Health Center and Little Company of Mary, PNI neurosurgeons lead the way in advancing safer, more effective keyhole and minimally invasive endoscopic brain tumor removal approaches.
If you, a family member, or friend have a new diagnosis, require a second opinion, or have a brain tumor or skull base tumor recurrence, our expert physicians can help you understand your condition and determine an optimal treatment plan.
Think Brain Tumor. Think PNI.
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For information about brain tumor treatment please complete the form below. We will respond to you within 12-24 hours. To speak with someone right away contact us at 213-855-2368.
Symptoms
The most common presenting symptom of a clival chordoma is double vision.
Less common symptoms may include:
- Facial numbness or tingling
- Loss of vision
- Hearing loss
- Difficulty swallowing
- Coordination
- Motor weakness
- Nasal congestion
- Pituitary gland dysfunction
- Headache
Diagnosis
What do I do if I have these symptoms?
These skull base tumors are best diagnosed by MRI and CT scans which will clearly show the extent of tumor and bony destruction.
Focused MRIs of the pituitary region, sinuses, temporal bones or internal auditory canals may be indicated to obtain better anatomical detail of a chordoma.
Other tests may also be needed prior to surgery such as angiography (typically now performed as a CT angiogram or an MR angiogram), visual field tests, an audiogram or pituitary hormonal tests.
Treatments
The initial treatment for a clival chordoma is maximal safe surgical removal.
Given their midline location, the great majority of clival chordomas and chondrosarcomas are best removed via an endoscopic endonasal approach.
However, some extensive and/or laterally placed chordomas may require different skull base approaches. Because chordomas typically invade the bone and dura of the skull base as well as cavernous sinus area, complete surgical resection is often not possible and continued growth of a residual tumor is common.
Extensive surgery can certainly improve long term survival but over-aggressive tumor removal can be associated with significant neurological complications.
After maximal safe removal, most chordoma patients will require Stereotactic Radiotherapy (SRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or proton beam radiation. Chemotherapy is generally ineffective for treating chordomas although clinical trials of some experimental chemotherapies and immunotherapies are available.
Our Physicians
Click on our award-winning physicians below to learn more about them:
Patient Experience
Akiko’s Story – CNS Lymphoma
Experience Akiko’s recovery from CNS Lymphoma.
Justine’s Story – metastatic melanoma
Experience an actual account of metastatic melanoma.
Chris’ Story- Meningioma Brain Tumor
Experience and actual account of meningioma.
The Pacific Brain Tumor Center
Meet Dr. Daniel F. Kelly
Akiko’s Story | CNS Lymphoma
Justine’s Story | Metastatic Melanoma
Chris’ Story | Meningioma
The Pacific Brain Tumor Center
