Follow-up study of giant cell tumor of bone.

Forty-two patients with giant-cell tumor of bone were treated by various surgical procedures. Local recurrence and pulmonary metastasis were surveyed with respect to the operation performed. A high incidence of local recurrence was observed in the group who underwent curettage for the bone lesion. Four cases had pulmonary metastasis and three died of tumor. Adequate surgical treatment of giant-cell tumors of bone needs at least en bloc resection of the bone lesion with reconstruction. Although the microscopic findings in our malignant cases differed somewhat from benign ones, it was very difficult to predict later malignant change from the histological features of the initial stage.