Giant-cell tumor: analysis on the importance of early diagnosis and the epidemiological profile()

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to ascertain the relationship between early diagnosis of giant-cell tumors (GCT) and their prognosis, by correlating the time of symptom onset with the staging of the injury (through the Campanacci classification at the time of diagnosis), and with the type of treatment. The secondary objective of the study was to outline the epidemiological profile of patients with GCT in the region where the data were gathered, and to compare them with data in the literature. METHODS: The authors present an evaluation on 61 patients diagnosed with bone GCT, with regard to the site of involvement, age, initial symptoms, time of symptom onset, classification and type of treatment, among patients attended between May 1994 and August 2009. RESULTS: The threshold indicated as the limit for Campanacci stage I tumors to be the commonest diagnosis, with a 98.2% chance that the treatment would be non-aggressive, was 2 months after symptom onset. This finding was statistically significant (p = 0.017). Every additional month increased the chance that a patient would be diagnosed with an advanced-stage tumor by 10.94%, in relation to the chances of having the other two stages of the tumor. CONCLUSION: The study result not only suggests that the alternative hypothesis that the earlier the diagnosis of GCT is, the less severe the lesion will be, has been confirmed; but also especially predicts the relationship between the time of symptom appearance and the severity of the tumor.