Bisphosphonate therapy is effective in the treatment of sacral giant cell tumor

Sacral giant cell tumors are particularly challenging to treat as they are often quite extensive and surround the sacral nerve roots, making surgical extirpation very difficult without high morbidity and frequent local recurrence.

We report on a 33-year old male patient with sacral giant cell tumor treated with intravenous bisphosphonate therapy after early failure of embolization procedures. At 3 years follow-up, the patient had no pain, no neurological deficits, and no local recurrence.

To our knowledge, this is one of the first reported cases of bisphosphonate therapy after failed embolization for control of a difficult giant cell tumor.