A giant cell tumor is a bone tumor. It is usually benign - only 5 to 10 percent of cases are malignant. Giant cell tumor, even if it sometimes recurs or metastasizes, the prognosis is good. What are the symptoms of a giant cell tumor and how is it treated?

Giant cell tumordevelops in young people between the ages of 20 and 40, more often it affects women. It is richly vascularized and has a dark brown color, the examination shows necrosis and cystic changes.

Giant cell tumor symptoms are often confused with arthritis symptoms.

Most cases develop at the epiphyses of long bones, mainly in the distal femur, proximal tibia, proximal humerus, or distal radius.

Giant cell tumor: symptoms

The characteristic symptoms of a giant cell tumor are pain in the place where the lesion has appeared, a pronounced thickening of the limb, and sometimes even pathological bone fractures. Pain is especially worsening with physical activity. The next symptoms are:

  • swelling in the vicinity of the tumor
  • enlargement of the bones on which the tumor appeared
  • changes in the area of ​​the joints that can be observed by X-ray examination

Giant cell tumor diagnosis

  • the first X-ray examination is performed, which shows the bone tissue partially permeable to radiation
  • nuclear magnetic resonance, which allows you to identify changes in bone and marrow
  • Computed tomography is useful in planning surgical treatment, usually in conjunction with an X-ray examination.
  • cytopathological examination of the material collected by fine needle biopsy - the microscopic image shows oval or round mononuclear cells (proper neoplastic cells) and polynuclear giant cells

Giant cell tumor treatment and prognosis

Treatment is based primarily on a surgical operation - a mild and active form of the tumor should be removed and the bone defects should be filled with bone cement.

Relapses of the disease appear even in half of the cases within 2 years after surgery, regardless of the tumor stage. They are treatedre-removal of the tumor focus.

Treatment of the aggressive form consists in radical tumor removal, tissue arthroplasty or transplantation. If the bones are completely damaged, amputation and prostheses are usually used. If the tumor cannot be treated surgically, radiotherapy is used, but it may lead to the tumor becoming malignant.

Important

The giant cell tumor is usually not malignant, but it can become malignant - local recurrences, sometimes metastases to the lungs, may appear after surgical removal of the tumor.

Category:

Oncology