ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference in clinical features, process, and prognosis depending on the presence of secondary aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) in patients with giant cell tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 33 patients who underwent surgery for giant cell bone tumors between March 2009 and April 2013 were selected. Data on clinical features were obtained from medical records and pathological and radiological review, including age, sex, location, and size of the tumor, and Campanacci grade, as well as whether there was any pathological fracture, local recurrence, distant metastasis, or malignant transformation. The Student t-test and Fisher exact test were used for comparison of the differences in clinical features by the presence or absence of ABCs. RESULTS: Local recurrence occurred in 6 of the 33 cases, 3 each were in the groups with and without ABCs; however, the difference was not statistically significant. In total, nine cases had pathological fractures, seven were in the group with ABC and two were in the group without ABC (p=0.013). No statistically significant differences in age, sex, location and size of the tumor, or Campanacci grade were observed between the groups with and without ABCs. CONCLUSION: There was no difference in the frequency of local recurrence between the groups with and without ABCs. However, pathological fracture occurred more frequently in the group with ABCs compared to the group without ABCs.