GIANT-CELL TUMOR OF THE 7TH CERVICAL VERTEBRA

A 43-year-old man presented with bubbly expansion and rarefaction of t he body of the seventh cervical vertebra. The lesion involved the righ t side of the vertebral arch and had a soft-tissue component extending mainly anterior to the vertebra. Histopathologic examination of the s pecimen obtained by open biopsy revealed a giant cell tumour. Giant ce ll tumours of the spine, excluding the sacrum, are rare. Radiographica lly, they may be confused with metastatic carcinoma, plasmacytoma, lym phoma, chordoma and even benign lesions, particularly aneurysmal bone cyst and brown tumour of hyperparathyroidism. However, giant cell tumo ur occurs mainly in younger patients, involves the vertebral body sele ctively in most cases and has a bubbly appearance associated with rare faction and expansion of the vertebral body, characteristics that may be helpful in the diagnosis.