Search

Giant cell tumors (GCTs) are generally benign, locally aggressive lesions mostly located in the metaphysis of long bones. GCTs of the skull are rare and the majority of the cases have been presented as case reports. The authors retrospectively reported 18 patients with GCTs of the skull at a single institution from April 1994 to February 2012 and summarized the clinical, radiological, pathological characteristics and management of the disease. Meanwhile, a systematic review of 94 case reports of GCTs of the skull was performed. Headache and symptoms related to the involvement of intracranial nerves were the most common symptoms. Over 90 % of the tumors originated from sphenoid and temporal bones. On MRI, very low signal on T2-weighted images were found highly indicative of GCTs of the temporal bone. Univariate analysis revealed that extent of tumor resection and post-operative radiation therapy (RT) were prognostic factors significantly influencing the survival of the patients. We concluded that complete tumor resection is the optimal goal in treating this disease and adjuvant RT should be given once tumor residual is inevitable.

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.

The giant cell tumor is considered to be a locally aggressive benign tumor and has a low tendency toward distant metastasis. They are primarily present in the long bone and are rare in the skull. The osteoclast-like giant cells do not demonstrate mitotic activity and contain large numbers of nuclei. Herein, we described a case of giant cell tumor in the temporal lobe. Heterogenous enhancement is shown on CT imaging in solid areas of tumor. The appearance intermediate to high signal intensity on T1-weighted and very low signal intensity on T2-weighted MR imaging were due to the presence of hemosiderin from prior hemorrhage.

The authors report a case of giant cell tumor originating in the sphenoid bone. A 29-year-old woman presented with headache and diplopia. Bilateral ophthalmoplegia developed and MRI showed rapid growth of the tumor in spite of transnasal removal and conventional radiation therapy. The second transnasal surgery was performed 3 weeks after completion of radiotherapy. The symptoms were relieved except for right abducens palsy. Chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide was started after the second operation. The patient regained full ocular movement several months after the operation. Clinical remission has continued for four years. We conclude that the combination of repeated operations in the initial phase of rapid tumor growth, irradiation and chemotherapy is important to achieve tumor control.

Background: Most giant cell tumors (GCT) occur at the ends of long bones. There is little information about GCT of the skull bones., Methods: The authors reviewed the Mayo Clinic files, which contained 546 cases of GCT, and their own consultation files, which contained approximately 1500 cases., Results: Eleven tumors occurred in the sphenoid bone with extension to the surrounding bones and structures in 8 patients. One tumor (in Paget's disease) occurred in the frontal bone, one tumor was in the occipital bone, and one tumor was in the temporal bone. There were 4 men and 11 women whose ages ranged from 8 to 78 years, with a mean of 36.5 years. Radiographic findings were not suggestive of a specific diagnosis, although the features were those of an aggressive lesion. Histologically, the tumors had features typical of GCT. However, a prominent spindle cell component was seen in five tumors. The initial treatment in all patients but one was intralesional excision that was as complete as possible. The last patient had a wide excision and had soft tissue recurrence at 1 year. This was excised and she was free of disease at 2.7 years. Three patients died, one in the immediate postoperative period and the other two at 1.6 and 4 years with progression of tumor. One patient had postoperative radiation therapy and was without evidence of disease for 2 years when he was lost to follow-up. The remaining 10 patients all had postoperative radiation therapy; 6 patients were alive without disease from 4 to 34 years. However, one of these six patients had a recurrence that was treated surgically with additional radiation. Four patients were alive with tumor from 2.1 to 26 years at the time of this report., Conclusions: GCT of the skull bones is rare but should be distinguished from giant cell reparative granuloma because of the tendency for progression. Surgical ablation (as complete as possible) and postoperative radiation therapy seem to be the treatment of choice for GCT of the skull bones.

A case of giant cell tumour of the sphenoid bone is reported. Besides the familiar presentation with headaches, ocular manifestations, and upper cranial nerve lesions, this case showed previously undescribed features such as grand mal seizures, hemiparesis with facial palsy, and dural extension. The reported high incidence in females is questioned. The tumour histologically showed some cartilage.

Differentiation of brown tumors of primary or secondary hyperparathyroidism, giant-cell reparative granulomas, and the "true" giant-cell tumors requires consideration of the clinical presentation, anatomic location, roentgenographic features, and results of metabolic studies. These lesions are indistinguishable by histologic appearance alone. Of the 32 giant-cell lesions of bone that were treated at UCLA during the preceding 20 years, seven were from the head and neck region. Four giant-cell reparative granulomas were easily accessible and were treated by local excision. The three "true" giant-cell tumors were found to be in inaccessible locations and thus were treated with full course irradiation. This resulted in tumor shrinkage, but it is probably not curative. Tumor type, location, and clinical setting are important in planning treatment of these lesions.

Two cases of giant cell tumor of the skull are reported. The first patient had a radical operation for a giant cell tumor of the temporal base followed by radiation therapy. The second patient had a partial removal of a giant cell tumor of the occipital bone followed by radiation therapy. The pertinent literature on giant cell tumors originating from the cranial bones other than the sphenoid bone is reviewed.

A 19-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of blurred vision, visual field defect, diplopia and hypesthesia of the left face. Neurological examination on admission revealed impairments of the II, III, IV, VI cranial nerves bilaterally and the first branch of the V nerve on the left. X-ray films of the skull showed a marked decalcification of the sella and upper portion of the clivus. Cerebral angiography demonstrated a moderately vascularized, large tumor in the sella-clival region. The tumor was supplied mainly by the branches of the right internal carotid artery, which was occluded at the cavernous portion. CT scans showed a large, oval mass located at the mid-portion of the anterior and middle fossa. Hounsfield number of the tumor was approximately 64.0, but several high density spots, probably due to destroyed bone fragments, were seen inside. The tumor was markedly enhanced with contrast medium. Three successive craniotomies were carried out through right fronto-temporal approaches, but total removal of the tumor was not achieved. Histological examination of surgical specimens disclosed that the tumor was consisted of abundant multinucleated giant cells and fewer spindle shaped stromal cells. Postoperative radiotherapy by telecobalt was tried and a total dose of 70Gy was delivered to the residual tumor. Effect of radiotherapy was remarkable and the size of the tumor on CT was markedly reduced to the extent of 10% of the pre-radiation tumor size. The patient was discharged in a good condition and there have been no signs of recurrence for 10 months so far. On the basis of our case and cases reported in the literature so far, the authors discussed clinical and radiological features, difficulty in surgical treatment and radiosensitivity of giant cell tumor of the sphenoid bone.