Imaging appearance of giant cell tumour of the spine above the sacrum

Abstract

Giant cell tumour (GCT) of the spine is rarely encountered in daily clinical practice. Most of the tumours occur at the sacrum instead of at the spine above the sacrum, which has been reported to account for 1.3-9.3% of all spine GCTs. This article is a review of our radiological experience of the diagnosis of spine GCT above the sacrum based on 34 patients at a single institution. The purpose of this pictorial review is to highlight the imaging findings of GCT and to provide clues that may distinguish it from other, more common neoplasms.

Imaging Features of Aggressive Giant Cell Tumors of the Mobile Spine: Retrospective Analysis of 101 Patients From Single Center

“…Spinal GCT is usually located in the vertebral body, accounting for approximately 85-100% of cases according to the literature. 6,15,17 In our series, lesions arose from the vertebral body in 90 patients and the posterior neural arch in 11 patients. GCT lesions centered in the posterior elements should be differentially diagnosed from *The values are given as the mean and the standard deviation.…”

“…6,12 Atypical manifestations of spinal GCTs include lesions located in the neural arch, involving more than 1 vertebra segment and/or over 2 segments of paraspinal soft tissue mass, and presence of partial sclerotic margins with partial cortical destruction. [12][13][14][15] There are few in-depth reports of radiographic features associated with aggressive GCTs of the mobile spine, which limited to case reports or a few examples, [15][16][17] and there is no systematic summary of the atypical imaging features of spinal GCT. Since extensive knowledge of radiological features associated with spinal GCTs is important for clinical diagnosis, especially for patients with rapid neurological deficit which may require emergent surgery without biopsy, this study aimed to retrospectively review CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of patients with aggressive spinal GCT to describe and categorize typical and atypical features to help the imaging diagnosis.…”

Morphological and dynamic contrast enhanced MR imaging features for the differentiation of chordoma and giant cell tumors in the Axial Skeleton

“…22 GCT contains over-proliferation of osteoclasts and numerous thin walled vascular channels predisposing to areas of hemorrhage and presumably related to the common co-existence of cystic regions. 11,[23][24][25] Microscopic observation also demonstrates a high microvessel density, and most microvascular structure is incomplete with irregular lumen, thin lumen wall, disorderly arranged, loss of endothelial cells in some vessel walls, and these will present as leaky vessels that have a high vascular permeability. These vascular properties are consistent with a high angiogenesis that will allow a rapid delivery of Gd-DTPA into the tumor to show a strong enhancement and then followed by a rapid wash-out.…”

Imaging of Benign Tumors of the Osseous Spine

“…GCTs are more frequently found in women (female/male ratio 2.5/1) and affect patients in their second to fourth decades of life [29]. Being an aggressive bone tumor, local or distant spread predominantly to the lungs may occur and the recurrence rate following surgical excision is high.…”

“…These lesions are found in all age groups with no significant gender predilection [56]. Histologically, enostosis represent a developmental hamartomatous cortical bone embedded within the trabecular network of the medullary cavity [29]. They are related to dysplasias of endochondral bone formation [56].…”