The general concern for local recurrence involves surgical technique and lesions of the cricoid cartilage. They occur most frequently in the lung and lymph nodes. They occur long after diagnosis, making long term follow-up of these lesions necessary. High-grade lesions are those most likely to metastasize. It is important to differentiate low - grade chondrosarcomas from chondromas.
Chondromas are more likely to occur at a younger age although adults are more commonly affected.
The symptoms are the same but chondromas are more likely to be asymptomatic. The site of origin is the same but chondromas tend to be less than 2cm while chondrosarcomas are greater than 3cm. It is extremely rare to have recurrence of a chondroma following complete excision nor do they exhibit metastatic potential. Histologically, chondromas appear as normal cartilage with defined lobules with low cellularity and absence of nuclear atypia. Chondrometaplasia is a common lesion that must be differentiated from a neoplastic cartilaginous lesion.