Giant Cell Tumour Treatment

Giant Cell Tumour is a non cancerous tumour that is generally seen in the long bones. Giant Cell Tumour or GCT is most common in the young adults in the age bracket of 20 – 40 years who have full grown skeleton. The most common site is at the end of bones like just above the knee. However, it can also form in other bones of arms, legs or even breast bones. In Giant Cell Tumour small individual cells combine together and give a view of large cells when seen under microscope. This is the reason it is called Giant Cell Tumour.
Although Giant Cell Tumour is a non cancerous or benign tumour of the bone but it is very aggressive in nature. Aggressive nature of the bone tumour means that it grows very rapidly and makes the bone weak. Due to the weakening of bone there are high chances that it could lead to fracture of bone. It is advisable to see a bone cancer specialist or surgeon who are the best orthopaedic surgeons with additional training to treat the bone tumours like Giant Cell Tumour.

Symptoms

Most of the symptoms of Giant Cell Tumour are similar to that of normal orthoapedic problems which may include:
Pain in affected bone
Swelling in joint
Visible tissue growth
Edema or fluid in the nearby joint
Limited movement in nearby joint

Diagnosis & Treatment

Diagnosis of almost all the bone related diseases can primarily be done on an X-ray. X ray gives an image of the bone and shows if there is any tumour or growth. If the orthopaedic cancer surgeon sees a growth then he may go ahead with advanced diagnostic investigation, which may include either a CT Scan or MRI scan or a biopsy. In some cases inorder to ensure that it’s not cancerous then instead of going for biopsy, doctor may opt for a nuclear medicine bone scan. So precisely following are the investigations that bone cancer surgeon may opt for to make a correct diagnosis:

X-Ray
CT Scan
MRI
Biopsy
Nuclear Medicine Bone Scan
PET CT

Treatment for Giant Cell Tumour

Surgery is the primary treatment for Giant Cell Tumours. The main aim of the surgery in case of giant cell tumour is to remove the tumour and save the bone from further damage. In most of the cases Dr J S Virk at the hospital in Punjab prefers a wide margin excision of the tumour to ensure that there is no recurrence. Most complicated cases of GCT are the ones where there is recurrence of the Giant Cell Tumour. In case of recurrence of Giant Cell Tumour Dr J S Virk has managed to give the new lease of life to the patients by performing the limb salvage surgery. The only condition is that the tumour most not have ruptured. His success rate in the recurred GCT is very high. There are cases where surgery is not possible. In these cases Dr J S Virk opts for radiation therapy as a part of the treatment. In many cases patient needs reconstruction of the bone so patient may lead a normal life. Reconstruction is done either through a graft or patient specific implant.