Study design: Case study.
Objective: To present three complicated cases of giant cell tumor of the spine treated with sodium ibandronate.
Summary of background data: Spinal giant cell tumors are a rare clinical entity with a high recurrence rate after operation. Furthermore, complete resection of such lesions remains a challenging surgical problem. Up to this point, no effective adjuvant therapy has been reported for primary or recurrent spinal giant cell tumors.
Methods: One patient with a recurrent giant cell tumor of the seventh thoracic vertebra, one patient with a fifth lumbar vertebral giant cell tumor, and one patient with recurrent giant cell tumor of the sacrum were treated with sodium ibandronate either postoperatively or upon recurrence of the tumor.
Results: The first patient with recurrent thoracic giant cell tumor recovered both clinically and radiologically after treatment with sodium ibandronate without reoperation at 6-years follow-up. The second patient also recovered with no recurrence of the tumor at 4-years follow-up. In the third case, although not fully recovered, the recurrent sacral tumor was under control after treatment with sodium ibandronate at 2-years follow-up.
Conclusion: These case studies demonstrate the potential promise of using sodium ibandronate in the treatment of primary and recurrent giant cell tumors of the spine. Furthermore, clinical evaluation should be performed in future studies.