The impact of curettage technique on local control in giant cell tumour of bone

Although consensus has been reached regarding the main aspects of intralesional surgery for giant cell tumour of the bone (GCTB), debates continue about the most effective combination of local adjuvants. The purpose of study was to analyze the previous experience and determine the most effective curettage approach for GCTB.

We summarized the findings from 89 papers published from 1962 to 2020 related to this subject. Database consisted of 137 treated groups that included 6441 patients who underwent different curettage techniques without pre-operative administration of bisphosphonates or RANKL inhibitors.

Recurrence rates after simple curettage ranged between 27 and 82% with a median value at 47%. The use of one or two local adjuvants reduced the incidence of recurrences approximately by 50% when compared with simple curettage. High-speed burring combined with chemical adjuvants or followed by poly(methyl methacrylate) cementation with or without bone grafting further improved the local control leading to good and excellent results; however, these were not documented in all studies. Simultaneous use of burring, chemical adjuvants, and cementation, which we named here as combined curettage, allowed to down local relapses to the range of 0-26%, with a median at 11%. Oncologic outcomes after combined curettage are significantly better when compared with simple curettage (p < 0.0001) and other variants of enhancement (p = 0.001).

Combined curettage appears to provide the most potent and comprehensive impact on residual tumour cells located in risk zones. This approach should be considered for locally advanced tumours when function-preserving surgery is planned. Additional comparative studies are required to define the optimal curettage enhancement for each individual patient.