• Ozkan Alan, Tugba Akin Telli, Ozlem Ercelep, Eda Tanrikulu Simsek, Tugba Basoglu Tuylu, Aydan Mutis, Rahib Hasanov, Serap Kaya, Akgül BabacanNalanNDivision of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey., Faysal Dane, and Perran Fulden Yumuk.
• Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey. ozkan.alan@hotmail.com.
• J Med Case Rep. 2018 Aug 27; 12 (1): 239.

BackgroundChordoma is a rare malignant tumor of the skull base and axial skeleton, with an incidence of less than 0.1/100,000 per year. Patients with advanced chordoma have a poor prognosis due to locoregional recurrence with infiltration and destruction of surrounding bone and soft tissue. Cytotoxic chemotherapy or other systemic therapies have not been proven to be effective for these diseases. Therefore, several molecularly targeted therapies have been proposed as potentially beneficial, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib, sorafenib, lapatinib, and others.Case PresentationWe present three cases of advanced chordoma treated with molecular targeted therapies: a 52-year-old Caucasian man, a 72-year-old Caucasian woman, and a 38-year-old Caucasian woman.ConclusionsChordoma has few systemic treatment options and they have limited benefit. Randomized trials with large patient numbers are unfeasible in this rare disease. Targeted therapy might be a reasonable alternative treatment for chordoma. Still, new treatment strategies are needed for this rare disease.

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