We reviewed the results for forty consecutively seen patients, each of
whom had been managed by one surgeon for a giant-cell tumor of bone in an
extremity between 1976 and 1990. Twenty patients had been managed with an
en bloc resection and twenty, with an intralesional excision of the tumor
with adjunctive local insertion of methylmethacrylate or phenol. All
patients had been followed for a minimum of two years. Both en bloc
resection and intralesional excision were found to be excellent oncological
procedures. There were fewer complications and better functional results
after the intralesional procedure than following the en bloc resection.