Triple Total Cervical Vertebrectomy for a Giant Cell Tumor

Abstract

Surgical treatment improves neurologic deficit in more than 80% of cases of spinal cord compromise caused by solitary osteochondroma. The risk of recurrence or sarcomatous transformation justifies clinical and radiologic follow-up review.

Treatment options for recurrent giant cell tumors of bone

“…There is still no general recommendation for the treatment of GCTB at this special anatomical site (Bianchi et al 2005;Cheng et al 2001;Intuwongse 1998;Leung and Chan 1986;Sheth et al 1995). Due to the high complication rate in recurrent giant cell tumors of the spine, a marginal or even wide primary surgery according to Enneking (Enneking et al 1980) may be justiWed for this localization (Chen et al 2004;Gille et al 2005;Gruber et al 1999;Ozaki et al 2002). Some authors recommend spondylectomy as an aggressive operative treatment to prevent local recurrences (Kawahara et al 1998;Samartzis et al 2008) especially because of the diYculty to use conventional treatment options with curettage and cementing in these localizations (Matsumoto et al 2007).…”

Compressive Myelopathy due to Osteochondroma of the Atlas and Review of the Literature

“…The mean age of patients who develop osteochondroma in the vertebra is less than 20 years, and it occurs more frequently in males [5,6] - the case we reported was a young boy of 8 years. In our previous series about pediatric epidural spinal tumors, we noticed more involvement of boys than girls [1].…”

“…The outcome in the majority of surgically treated patients is good. As long as the entire cartilage cap is removed, there should be no recurrence [5]. …”

Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Tumors of the Vertebral Column

“…Patients who were treated with radiotherapy alone or with incomplete surgical resection with or without radiation therapy had a 48% risk of tumor recurrence [88]. Some other authors also report isolated cases of complete cure after en bloc resection in the cervical spine [89][90][91]. • Arterial embolization of GCTs is a critical adjuvant therapy that may increase the safety of surgery as well as improve progression-free survival.…”