It is a locally aggressive benign bone tumor. It is the common benign tumor to affect the bone, it accounts for 25% of the benign bone tumors

Cause of Gaint cell tumor- exact cause of gaint cell tumor is not know. It is due to over activity of bone destroying cells.

Age- 30 -40 years

Sex- Female > Male

Symptoms – Bone swelling, Persistent bone pain, Fracture following trivial fall

Common site – Around the knee, proximal humerus, distal radius

Investigation required – 1) X ray, 2) MRI 3)

Most important is Biopsy

Note- Biopsy is done as a day care procedure under local anaesthesia or rarely under general anaesthesia. Usually biopsy procedure takes 10-15 mins. Tumor does not spread with biopsy and biopsy is not a complicated surgical procedure

Treatment –

Extended curettage – It includes making adequate window in the bone. Scooping out the tumor, use high speed burr to break the septae and 1-2 mm of normal bone. Varies adjuvants like hydrogen peroxide, phenol, liquid nitrogen, argon bean laser are used to clear residual disease. The bone defect can be filled with bone cement and bone graft. This procedure helps to save the joint completely so pateint will have excellent function and perform all the regular activities.

Giant Cell Tumor

a) Giant cell tumor of thigh( femur) bone

b) Adequate window is made, to visualise the tumor completely

c) Tumor was scooped out of the cavity

d) High speed burr and adjuvants are used to perform extended curettage

e) The cavity filled with bone cement or bone graft

Wide local excision – If the tumor is very big and has destroyed the bone completely, we have to excise the involved bone completely and replace the defect with artifical metallic bone or biological reconstructions using fibula bone, allograft ( Other pateint bone)

Inj Denosumab can be used in selective cases to facilitate curettage or excision of tumor

Course of GCT- It is not a cancer so majarity of time it wont affect life or limb.The chance of recurrence has dramaticaaly reduced to 10-20% after the extended curettage with better understanding of disease and extended curettage in trained hands.

Early diagnosis and managment at a specialised bone cancer centre will reduce the chance of disease recurrence and gives excellent function .

Early diagnosis and managment