Local Recurrence After Minimally Invasive Curettage For Primary Giant Cell Tumor of Bone With Perioperative Bisphosphonate Is Comparable to Open Curettage: Retrospective Comparison With 9-Year Follow-Up

PURPOSE: To compare the long-term oncological outcome of minimally invasive curettage (MIC) with conventional open curettage (OC). METHODS: We studied patients with primary giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) of extremities who underwent intralesional tumor curettage and cementation and perioperative bisphosphonates from February 2003 to June 2016. All cases were histology-confirmed diagnoses of GCTB. Recurrent GCTB, malignant GCTB, cases in the axial skeleton (pelvis and spine), or cases with bone grafting of the curetted cavity were excluded. The local recurrence-free (LR-free) estimates of the OC and MIC groups were compared. The hazard ratio of a local recurrence was calculated for the various factors of the patients, disease, and treatment. RESULTS: At a mean follow-up of 8.8 years, the overall LR rate was 24.2% (8 out of 33 patients). There was no statistical difference in LR in MIC and OC groups (27.8 % vs 20%; P = .6). The mean time to LR was 33.1 months (8 to 75). The operative time was comparable in both MIC and OC groups. None of the risk factors studied led to a significantly higher hazard of LR. CONCLUSIONS: At a long-term follow-up of 9 years, MIC showed similar LR-free survival to OC. Combining bisphosphonates and MIC with a less invasive approach showed reasonable LR-free survival in long-term follow-up. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, retrospective cohort study.