Functional and Oncological Outcome After Treatment of Chondroblastoma With Intralesional Curettage

Abstract

Background: Chondroblastoma is a rare cartilaginous benign bone tumor that commonly arises in long bones of young people. Surgical management is the primary treatment of choice for chondroblastoma and it entails adequate intralesional curettage alone or in combination with adjuvants. This study was performed to describe the epidemiological characteristics and clinical and radiologic results of intralesional curettage of chondroblastoma.

Methods: This was a retrospective study which included an analysis of 91 patients with chondroblastoma who were treated with intralesional curettage and were followed up between 1994 and 2014 for at least 3 years. Epidemiological data, clinical symptoms, radiologic and histologic investigations, surgery, functional outcomes, complications, and local recurrence rate were analyzed.

Results: There were 60 males (65.9%) and 31 females (34.1%) with a mean age of 16.4 years. The most commonly involved bone was the proximal tibia in 24 patients (26.4%), followed by distal femur in 20 patients (22%), proximal humerus in 17 patients (18.7%) and proximal femur in 15 patients (16.6%). All patients underwent intralesional curettage. High-speed burr was used in 66 patients (72.5%). The resultant cavity was filled with autogenous bone graft, bone substitute, bone cement or a combination of bone graft and cement. Four patients (4.4%) had complications. Three patients (3.3%) developed local recurrence. Age, site, history of previous intervention or pathologic fracture had no impact on the rate of recurrence. The mean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) score was 28.88 (range, 24 to 30) points.

Conclusions: Thorough curettage using high-speed burr and bone-grafting or bone cement in the treatment of chondroblastoma has good local control, low recurrence rate and excellent functional long-term outcome.

Level of evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.