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Background: Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma is an uncommon malignant variant of chondrosarcoma that mainly affects the bones and cartilaginous tissues, but may rarely involve the spine. Careful preoperative planning for surgical tumor removal and spine reconstruction is mandatory and must be based on oncologic and surgical staging. Case Description: Over 1 month, a 16-year-old female became paraplegic with a T9 sensory level and urinary dysfunction. The magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intraspinal extradural T7-T9 mass that was isointense in T1W1 and markedly enhanced with gadolinium. The patient underwent gross-total tumor resection followed by an osteoplastic laminectomy with fusion. The histological examination was consistent with a mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. She had received radiation and chemotherapy. One year later, she was readmitted for tumor recurrence with multiple metastases involving L1, the lung, and peritoneum. Despite full course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, she died after 6 months of the second surgery. Conclusion: Total resection of mesenchymal chondrosarcomas is the gold standard for treatment and is typically followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy. However, the status of residual tumor, local extension, and or metastases best determine the overall survival which may prove extremely limited.

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Background: Hypophysitis is described as a rare chronic inflammatory affection of the pituitary gland. However, to date, its pathogenesis has not been completely cleared up. Clinical features are polymorphic, including symptoms related to inflammatory compression and/or hypopituitarism. Laboratory tests determine hormone deficiencies orientating replacement therapy’s protocol. MRI of the hypothalamic-pituitary region is crucial in exhibiting major radiological signs such as pituitary homogeneous enlargement and gland stalk’s thickening. The etiological diagnosis is still challenging without affecting the management strategy. Corticosteroids have widely been used but a close follow-up without any treatment has also been approved. Case Description: In this report, seven patients with hypophysitis have been collected over a period of 6 years. The average age of our patients was 32.1 years ± 11.8 with a female predominance (71.4%). Panhypopituitarism was objective in 42.9% of cases, a combined deficiency of the hypothalamic-pituitary thyroid, adrenal and gonadal axes in 28.6% of cases. A central diabetes insipidus was noted in 42.9% of the patients. Idiopathic hypophysitis was the most common etiology. The use of long course corticosteroids was required in 28.6% when compressive signs were reported. Conclusion: Hypophysitis remains a rare disease with nonspecific clinical and radiological patterns. Autoimmune origin seems to be the most frequent etiology. No guidelines have been established for hypophysitis management and the evolution is still unpredictable.

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