Twenty-six patients who had a malignant giant-cell tumor of bone--a
sarcoma either juxtaposed to a zone of typical benign giant-cell tumor or
occurring at the site of a previously documented benign giant-cell
tumor--have been seen at the Mayo Clinic. Of the twenty-six tumors,
nineteen were secondary to a previous attempt at local control of a benign
giant-cell tumor. All but one of these nineteen patients with a secondary
tumor had received therapeutic irradiation four to thirty-nine years
earlier. The nature and duration of the symptoms and the sites of
predilection of the malignant giant-cell tumors were the same as for benign
giant-cell tumor. Fibrosarcoma occurred three times as frequently as
osteosarcoma. The best results of treatment of the secondary sarcoma were
obtained with early ablation.