This information has been written for patients, their families and friends and the general public to help them understand more about a rare benign tumour type, known as a giant cell tumour of the bone. This section will detail what a giant cell tumour of the bone is and how this tumour can be diagnosed and treated.

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What is a giant cell tumour of the bone?

Giant cell tumours of the bone make up approximately 4-5% of all tumours which start in the bone and occur in an estimated 1 person in every 1,000,000 people per year. This rare tumour generally affects those aged 20 to 45 years of age and is most effectively treated by the surgical removal of the tumour.

Giant cell tumours of the bone tend to be benign (non-cancerous), but they can be locally aggressive.

Giant cell tumours of the bone are named due to the way they look under a microscope. Many ‘giant cells’ can be seen, which are cells that have formed due to the joining together (fusion) of several individual cells into one single, larger, cell. This production of giant cells can be seen in other conditions and cancers of the bone, as well as in normal bone. Therefore, confirming the diagnosis of a giant cell tumour of the bone is done after ruling out other giant-cell rich diseases - such as giant-cell rich osteosarcoma(2,3).

This tumour type typically occurs in the long bones of the body, including the thigh bone (the femur), the shin bone (the tibia) and the lower arm bone (the radius). Giant cell tumours of the bone tend to be at the end point of these long bones and are often found next to the joints. The most common location of a giant cell tumour of the bone is around the knee joint — where over 50% of giant cell tumours arise(4). Giant cell tumours of the bone can also start in the pelvis, the spine, the ribs, the skull and the sacrum — which is the base of the spine where it connects to the pelvis(2).