The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 75, Issue 10 1466-1475, Copyright © 1993 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Treatment of giant-cell tumor of the pelvis
BK Sanjay, FJ Frassica, DA Frassica, KK Unni, RA McLeod and FH Sim
Department of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
Nineteen patients who had a giant-cell tumor of the pelvis were managed
from 1944 through 1989. Thirteen of the patients were in the third or
fourth decade of life. The ileum was involved in thirteen patients; the
pubis, in two; the ischium, in three; and the pubis and ischium, in one.
Five patients who had an initial Stage-II (active) lesion were managed with
curettage; in one of the five, a local recurrence developed at twelve
months, and the other four had no evidence of disease from nine to
forty-six years after the curettage. Eight patients who had a Stage-III
(aggressive) lesion were managed with resection of most of the lesion
followed by curettage of any remaining positive margins; four of the eight
also received adjuvant irradiation. None of the eight had a local
recurrence; six had no evidence of disease from eight to twenty-seven years
after the operation, one died because of a metastatic post-radiation
sarcoma thirteen years after the operation, and one was asymptomatic but
had pulmonary metastases three years after the operation. Four patients who
had a Stage-III recurrent local tumor when they were first seen were
managed with hemipelvectomy, wide resection, resection and curettage, and
curettage and arthroplasty (one procedure each). Three had no evidence of
disease seven to twenty years after the operation and one had died because
of a post-radiation metastatic osteosarcoma eight years after the
operation. Two patients who had Stage-III disease were managed with
external beam radiation alone. One had no evidence of disease twenty-six
years later. The other had a recurrence one year later, which was treated
with additional irradiation; a second recurrence was treated with curettage
and bone-grafting. Twenty-eight years after the initial radiation
treatment, this patient had no evidence of disease. External beam
irradiation was used for a total of eight patients; a post-radiation
sarcoma developed in two.