Primary intracranial extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma.

Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas (EMC) are extremely rare and are usually located in the deep soft tissues of the lower extremities. Less than 10 cases of intracranial EMC have been reported in the literature, making their management and early diagnosis difficult. We present a new case of intracranial EMC occurring in a 70-year-old woman presenting with a right frontal mass initially assumed to be a brain metastasis from breast adenocarcinoma. The optimal management of these tumours is also discussed. Analysis from the literature suggests that complete resection should be recommended, whenever feasible. Although the high risk for relapse after surgery encourages postoperative treatments, relative resistance to both radio-therapy and chemotherapy characterizes EMC. Future perspectives might include multimodal treatments with highly conformal radiotherapy modalities for dose escalation strategies or use of new molecules. Knowledge of these unusual malignant tumours will be the first step for improving patients' outcome.

The French mobile neurosurgical unit.

The authors present the French concept of a mobile neurosurgical unit (MNSU) as used to provide specific support to remote military medicosurgical units deployed in Africa, South America, Central Europe, and Afghanistan. From 2001 to 2009, 15 missions were performed, for 16 patients. All but 3 of these missions (those in Kosovo, French Guyana, and Afghanistan) concerned Africa. Eleven patients were French soldiers, 3 were civilians, and 2 were Djiboutian soldiers. The conditions that MNSUs were requested for included craniocerebral wounds (2 cases), closed head trauma (7 cases), spinal trauma (5 cases), and spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage (2 cases). In 5 of the 16 cases, neurosurgical treatment was provided on site. All French soldiers and 2 civilians were evacuated to France. The MNSU can be deployed for timely treatment when some delay in neurosurgical management is acceptable.