• Jacob L Freeman, Soliman Oushy, Jeffrey Schowinsky, Stefan Sillau, and A Samy Youssef.
• Department of Neurosurgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2016 Dec 1; 96: 47-57.

BackgroundThe current literature regarding cranial giant cell tumor (GCT) management includes scattered case reports and small case series. We present a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis on this subject, along with a case report describing our management of a patient with temporal GCT.MethodsA systematic literature review of all reports on GCTs of the skull was performed, followed by a meta-analysis examining the effect of radiation and degree of resection on tumor recurrence.ResultsFifty-nine abstracts published between 1945 and 2015, reporting 110 cases of GCT, were reviewed. After exclusions were applied, 31 reports, covering 67 patients, were selected for meta-analysis. Average patient age was 33.7 years, and the male:female ratio was roughly 1:1. Tumor locations were temporal in 37 patients, sphenoid in 20 patients, occipital in 6 patients, frontal in 2 patients, and the temporomandibular joint in 2 patients. Treatments were surgery plus radiation in 25 patients, surgery alone in 41 patients, and radiation alone in 1 patient. In the 66 patients who underwent surgery, the degree of resection was gross total resection (GTR) in 34 patients, subtotal resection (STR) in 31 patients, and not recorded in 1 patient. The mean follow-up time was 36 months. Recurrence occurred in 8.8% of patients in the GTR group and in 32.3% of those in the STR group (odds ratio, 0.203; 95% confidence interval, 0.033-0.937; P = 0.018). The odds ratio for STR alone compared with STR plus radiation was 14.01 (P = 0.0038).ConclusionGCTs of the skull commonly affect young adults, with an equal sex distribution, and are most often centered in temporal bone. GTR is associated with the lowest recurrence rate and should be the goal of treatment. If GTR cannot be achieved, the combination of STR and radiation results in a similar recurrence rate. With the advent of denosumab, there is now a role for chemotherapy in the treatment of GCTs.Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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