Abstract
1. Five cases of involvement of vertebrae by growths classified as giant-cell tumours, and two cases of involvement by tumours classified as aneurysmal bone cysts are described.
2. The periods of observation after operation in the benign cases were in three cases six years, in one ten years and in one twenty-one years.
3. In one case malignant transformation developed four and a half years after operation and one patient, in whom a sacral tumour was already malignant at the time of operation, died five months later.
4. Four patients showed significant involvement of vertebral bodies.
5. The problems related to the removal of a vertebral body and the measures taken to stabilise the spine are discussed.