Depending on the location, size and appearance of your chordoma, your surgery team might involve multiple surgeons. Chordoma surgery can include a collaboration between specialists in neurosurgery, surgical oncology, orthopaedic oncology, urology, vascular surgery, plastic surgery and anesthesiology.

The average survival is 6, 16 years, but there are some cases alive after almost 20 years. Recurrence and survival rates of mobile spine and sacral chordomas are not different. Sacral chordomas tend to metastasize, while mobile spine chordomas do not.

Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center is home to the Stephan L. Harris Center for Chordoma Care, a comprehensive treatment and research center. In addition, the availability of proton beam therapy, as well as expertise in surgical management of spinal tumors, attract chordoma patients from around the world.

Around half of chordomas develop at the base of the spine or the sacrum. Sacral chordoma generally causes persistent back ache or pain in the coccyx or sacrum (tailbone). They may cause numbness or weakness of the arms and legs and can affect bowel or bladder function.