Fine-needle aspiration biopsy diagnosis of costal juxtacortical chondrosarcoma presenting as an abdominal mass.

The majority of chondroid tumors arising in the cortex of bone are benign in nature. Juxtacortical chondrosarcoma is a relatively uncommon variant of chondrosarcoma, which by definition, is a malignant cartilaginous tumor that occurs on the surface of bone and measures at least 5 cm. Although the diagnostic value of fine-needle aspiration biopsy is well established, its role in the diagnosis of soft tissue/bone tumors is still not uniformly accepted. Herein, we describe an interesting and controversial case of costal juxtacortical chondrosarcoma presenting as a large intraabdominal mass in a 52-year old female patient, which was diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010:38:837-840. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.