Diagnosis and surgical treatment of giant cell tumor in hands and feet

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of giant cell tumor (GCT) in hands and feet, and to evaluate the effect of surgical treatment. Methods The clinical data of 11 patients with GCT in hands and feet treated at our hospital from 1998 to 2012 and followed up, 5 male and 6 female, were retrospectively analyzed. They were 15-41 years old, with an average of 23.5. Among the 11 cases, 4 had the tumor in hands, and 7 in feet. All the patients had pain, swelling, movement restriction on the lesion part, and came to hospital 3-14 months (average 8 months) after the sighs of the symptoms. No case got Campanacci’s grade I, 6 grade Ⅱ, and 5 gradeⅢ. One case had toe excision, and the rest were treated with extensive curettage and bone graft. Results The patients were followed up 16-120 months (average 49 months) after surgery. One of them had local recurrence after the first resection, and the metacarpal bone was resected and followed up 3 years, and found no recurrence; the rest patients had no pain and other complications after the surgery. The postoperative pathological results showed that all the patients were GCT with no malignancy, multiple center lesion, and lung metastasis. Conclusion GCT in hands and feet is rare, and tend to be misdiagnosed. The results of the present study suggest that extensive curettage provides favorable local control and achieve better clinical results. Key words: Giant cell tumor; Hands; Feet; Surgery; Diagnosis