GCT) in the Femur and Tibia Treated with Curettage and Cementation

Moon, Myung Sang; Kim, Jung Man; Kang, Yong Koo; Sun, Doo Hoon; An, Jae Goo; Bok, Hyun

Abstract

This dealt with the 23 cases of giant cell tumor of femur and tibia who were treated with curettage and cementation of the lesion, over 14 year period. Cement by virtue of it's heat of polymerization may "sterilize" the wall upto 3-5mm in depth. Authors adoped cement treatment as an effective adjuvant after intra-lesional surgery(curettage). Curettage was indicated in all stage I lesions; most stage 2 and some stage 3 lesions, provided the residual bone stock were sufficient to make it oncologically and mechanically effective. The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 14 years(oaverage 8 years and 6 months). The sites of the lesions were proximal tibia in 8, dital femur in 13, proximal femur in one, and distal tibia in one. Among these cases, 3(13.0%) cases(two grade 1 and one grade 2) of stage II(To: active), and 2(8.7%) of stage III(grade 2) (Tl or T2: aggressive). Utmost attention was paid to nulify or to reduce the local seeding of the tumor cell during aggressive curettage, which was followed by electrical cautery of the cavitey wall, and lastly by the cavity obliteration with bone cement. None of the cases had lung metastasis. Only in a stage III GCT case(4.3%) of local recurrence after curettage and bone and artificial bone graft, recurettage and cementation brought the successful outcome. Through this study, it was reconfirmed that with correct indications the use of cement as a local adjuvant in conjuction with curettage was effective method in treating GCT without any side effects.