Giant cell tumor of the vertebral column

The authors report 23 cases of giant cell tumor (GCT) of the mobile spine, treated between 1975 and 1993, with mean follow-up of 9 years. The series was homogeneous in terms of diagnosis, staging, and treatment, carried out at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, and isolated from a series of 28 cases recorded at the Tumor Center of the Rizzoli Institute. Five of the cases were excluded either because of insufficient documentation (4), or because the tumor had occurred on Paget's disease (1). GCT of the spine is a rare disease, and has a favorable diagnosis if treatment is correct, consisting in intralesional curettage of "active" forms and extracapsular curettage associated with adjuvant radiotherapy (or en bloc resection) in "aggressive" forms.