Abstract
Giant cell tumour (GCT) of bone is an uncommon primary bone neoplasm typically occurring at the epiphyses of long bones in young adults. They are osteolytic neoplasms with approximate local recurrence rates of 25%, and 2% of patients develop pulmonary metastases. These tumours appear very rarely in the skull, with those few reported cases arising predominantly in the sphenoid and occasionally the temporal bones. They demonstrate benign histological features, but are locally aggressive and surgical excision is the treatment of choice. It is widely believed that giant cell tumours should be distinguished from other giant cell lesions, importantly central giant cell reparative granulomata (CGCG) which are thought to have a lower recurrence rate and for which no cases of malignant transformation or metastases have been reported. Investigators have noted that giant cell lesions in the skull bones may be unique and that GCT and CGCG may be part of a spectrum of a single disease process. We present a case of a giant cell tumour of the temporal bone which illustrates and re-emphasises this concept and review the literature on these lesions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Reid R, Banerjee S, Sciot R (2002) Giant cell tumour. In: Fletcher C, Unni K, Mertens F (eds) Pathology and genetics of tumours of soft tissue and bone, WHO classification of tumours. IARC, Lyon, pp 310–312
Bertoni F, Unni K, Beabout J et al (1992) Giant cell tumour of the skull. Cancer 70(5):1124–1132
Hirschl S, Katz A (1974) Giant cell reparative granuloma outside the jaw bone. Hum Pathol 5(2):171–181
Williams J, Thorell W, Treves J et al (2000) Giant cell reparative granuloma of the petrous temporal bone: a case report and literature review. Skull Base Surg 10(2):89–93
Ung F, Li K, Keith D et al (1998) Giant cell reparative granuloma of the temporal bone: Case report and review of the literature. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 118:525–529
Auclair P, Cuenin P, Kratochvil F et al (1988) A clinical and histomorphologic comparison of the central giant cell granuloma and the giant cell tumour. Oral Surg 66:197–208
Whitaker S, Waldron C (1993) Central giant cell lesions of the jaws. a clinical, radiologic and histopathologic study. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 75(2):199–208
Jaffe H (1953) Giant-cell reparative granuloma, traumatic bone cyst, and fibrous (fibro-osseous) dysplasia of the jawbones. Oral Surg 6:159–175
Kashiwagi N, Hirabuki N, Andou K et al (2006) MRI and CT findings of the giant cell tumours of the skull; five cases and a review of the literature. Eur J Radiol 58:435–443
Elder J, Berry C, Gonzalez-Gomez I et al (2007) Giant cell tumour of the skull in paediatric patients. J Neurosurg 107(Supp 1 Paed):69–74
Lee M-Y, Lee E-J (2006) Giant cell tumour of the petrous temporal bone with direct invasion into the middle ear. J Craniofac Surg 17:797–800
Wülling M, Engels C, Jesse N et al (2001) The nature of giant cell tumour of bone. J Cancer Res Clin Onc 127(8):467–474
Nemoto Y, Inoue Y, Tashiro T et al (1995) Central giant cell granuloma of the temporal bone. Am J Neuroradiol 16:982–985
Dickson B, Li S-Q, Wunder J et al (2008) Giant cell tumour of bone express p63. Mod Pathol 21:369–375
Leonard J, Gokden M, Kyriakos M et al (2001) Malignant giant-cell tumour of the parietal bone: case report and review of the literature. Neurosurgery 48(2):424–429
Schwartz H, Eskew J, Butler M (2002) Clonality studies in giant cell tumour of bone. J Orthop Res 20(2):387–390
Antal I, Sápi Z, Szendrői M (1999) The prognostic significance of DNA cytophotometry and proliferation index (Ki-67) in giant cell tumours of bone. Int Orthop 23(6):315–319
Antal I, Sápi Z, Szendrői M (2000) Malignant transformation of giant cell tumour in the distal radius. Value of the DNA cytophotometry Orthopade 29(7):677–683. German
Rousseau M, Handra-Luca A, Lazennec J et al (2004) Metachronous multicentric giant-cell tumour of the bone in the lower limb. case report and Ki-67 immunohistochemistry study. Virchows Arch 445(1):79–82
Fukunaga M, Nikaido T, Shimoda T et al (1992) A flow cytometric analysis of giant cell tumours of bone including two cases with malignant transformation. Cancer 70(7):1886–1894
Sara A, Ayala A, el-Naggar A et al (1990) Giant cell tumour of bone. a clinicopathologic and DNA flow cytometric analysis. Cancer 66(10):2186–2190
Sulh MA, Greco MA, Jiang T et al (1996) Proliferation index and vascular density of giant cell tumours of bone: are they prognostic markers? Cancer 77(10):2044–2051
Dahlin D, Unni K (1986) Bone Tumours—General aspects and data on 8542 cases, 4th edn. Thomas, Springfield
Bertoni F, Bacchini P, Staals E (2003) Malignancy in giant cell tumour of bone. Cancer 97(10):2520–2529
Acknowledgements
The histological slides were prepared in the Laboratory at Department of Clinical Neuropathology, King’s College Hospital, London, UK.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saw, S., Thomas, N., Gleeson, M.J. et al. Giant Cell Tumour and Central Giant Cell Reparative Granuloma of the Skull: do These Represent Ends of a Spectrum? A Case Report and Literature Review. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 15, 291–295 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-008-9124-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-008-9124-y