Giant-Cell Tumor of the Appendicular Skeleton

The common objective of all surgical procedures in the treatment of giant-cell tumor of bone is to minimize the incidence of local recurrence. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, patient factors, tumor characteristics, or surgical practices correlate with local recurrence. Seventy-five patients treated for a giant-cell tumor of the appendicular skeleton were followed up for at least 2 years. The mean duration of followup was 62 months (range, 24-224 months). The highest proportion of patients had intralesional curettage, high-speed burring, and adjuvant treatment. Ten patients (13%) had a local recurrence. Bivariate analysis revealed that, with the numbers available, none of the patient variables, tumor variables, or surgical approaches correlated with local recurrence. Post hoc power analysis revealed the power of the study to be 33% to detect a clinically significant difference between treatment groups. The data presented here potentially could contribute to a metaanalysis, which would have the statistical power to determine which tumor-related factors and surgical techniques are most important in predicting recurrence in giant-cell tumor of bone.