Introduction and purpose: Benign giant cell tumours (GCT) are locally aggressive and may transform into primary sarcomatous tumours (1–3%) following recurrence (10–15%) and lung metastases (1–6%) even with benign histology. However, survival in these cases is high (96–100% of transformations and 15–50% of metastases). Recurrences after en-block resection are less common (0–5%), but curettage together with bone graft and/or adjuvant therapy achieves acceptable recurrence rates (0–34%) with lower morbidity.

The purpose of this study is to analyse our results after en-block resection and curettage.

Materials and methods: Retrospective series of 19 patients with GCT operated on between 1988 and 2002 with en-block resection and local reconstruction or curettage and allograft or cement. Location: proximal tibia (3), distal femur (4), hip (3), proximal humerus (2) and distal radius (6).

We describe the recurrences, metastases, deaths and complications according to treatment.

Results: There were no recurrences in 9 cases of en-block resection and we performed local reconstruction with a prosthesis (3), allograft (5) or VFG (1). The rest (10) underwent curettage with cement (2) or allograft (8). We had one recurrence treated with en-block resection and prosthesis. There were no metastases, deaths or other complications.

Conclusions: Although there were no recurrences with the en-block resection, curettage resulted in acceptable control of the disease with less morbidity. As a general rule, we tried to preserve the joint even with lesions in advanced stages.