Radionuclide bone scanning in giant cell tumor

Radionuclide bone scan findings are described and correlated with pathology in 23 patients with giant cell tumor (GCT) of the bone. The degree of radionuclide activity was markedly increased in 20 (87%), minimally increased in three (13%), and decreased in none of the patients. Of the 23 patients with increased radioactivity, the pattern was diffuse in 11 (48%) and doughnut in 12 (52%). Extended patterns of radioactivity were present in 19 of 22 patients; however, none were associated with true tumor extension. Bone scanning did not aid in the detection of GCT, was nonspecific, and did not differentiate benign from malignant GCT. Although radioactivity extended beyond the radiographic abnormality in the majority of patients, this was most likely secondary to other bony abnormalities or local and/or regional hyperemia, and caution should be taken in ascribing this extension to either tumor or metastasis.