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. 2015 Jan;3(1):207-211.
doi: 10.3892/mco.2014.433. Epub 2014 Oct 1.

Giant cell tumor of the patella: An uncommon cause of anterior knee pain

Tatsuya Shibata  1 , Jun Nishio  1 , Taiki Matsunaga  1 , Mikiko Aoki  2 , Hiroshi Iwasaki  2 , Masatoshi Naito  1
Affiliations

Giant cell tumor of the patella: An uncommon cause of anterior knee pain

Tatsuya Shibata et al. Mol Clin Oncol. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

The patella is a rare site for the development of primary tumors. This is the case report of a giant cell tumor (GCT) occurring in the patella in a 25-year-old woman. The patient presented with a 1-year history of occasional right anterior knee pain. The radiological characteristics suggested a benign condition. The intraoperative pathological diagnosis was GCT of the bone. The lesion was treated by radical curettage with adjuvant therapy comprising phenol and ethanol and injection of calcium phosphate cement. Histologically, the tumor consisted of round or spindle-shaped mononuclear cells admixed with numerous osteoclastic giant cells. The patient was asymptomatic and there was no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis 16 months after surgery. Although rare, patellar GCT may be included in the differential diagnosis of anterior knee pain and/or swelling, particularly in young adults.

Keywords: anterior knee pain; giant cell tumor; imaging; patella.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preoperative (A) lateral and (B) axial radiographs of the right knee reveal a well-defined, lytic lesion in the inferior and central portion of the patella.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Lateral and (B) axial computed tomographic scans of the right knee show an intraosseous lytic lesion with cortical thinning in the patella.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Axial magnetic resonance images of an intraosseous lesion in the right patella. (A) The lesion exhibits slightly higher signal intensity relative to skeletal muscle on T1-weighted sequence and (B) heterogeneous signal intensity on T2-weighted spectral presaturation with inversion recovery sequence. (C) Contrast-enhanced fat-suppressed T1-weighted sequence demonstrates heterogeneously strong enhancement of the lesion.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Technetium-99m hydroxymethylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy shows increased uptake in the right patella.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The tumor is composed of round or spindle-shaped mononuclear cells admixed with numerous osteoclastic giant cells.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Follow-up (A) lateral and (B) axial radiographs of the right knee 16 months after surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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