Abstract

Giant cell tumour (GCT) of the hand is the second most commonly seen soft tissue tumour after ganglion cyst. The current standard treatment of choice is excision though related to a high rate of recurrence. In this study, the authors showcase a case series of GCTs of the hand arising from various locations and the management of each.Materials and Methods: The study period was from January 2015 to December 2019.All cases of GCT of the hand arising from varying locations were included in this study. Features such as the symptoms, clinical findings, X-ray findings were recorded. All cases were operated by the same surgical team in the same hospital. Results: The average age of the patients was 29. All 12 cases had varying locations of the tumour, 9 from the tendon sheath, 1 from the 1st metacarpal bone(MCB), 1 from the distal radius and 1 recurrent case arising from the extensor tendon sheath. The 2 cases arising from the bone also underwent excision of the involved portion of the bone, out of which, 1 case underwent an inert iliac bone graft and in the other case, the distal radius required a free fibula flap cover. Histopathological examinations of all cases were reported as Giant cell tumours with no evidence of malignancy. There was no recurrence noted. The average follow-up period was 36 months.Conclusion: Clinical diagnosis of GCTs along with an X-ray is sufficient for diagnosis and preoperative MRI is usually not required unless there is a doubt in the clinical diagnosis of a GCT. The most important factor in preventing recurrence of GCT is surgical precision and complete excision of the tumour

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