Curettage of benign bone tumors without grafts gives sufficient bone strength.
OBJECTIVE
The defect that results after curettage of a bone tumor is usually filled in the same way. We report the outcome in patients with benign bone tumors that were treated with curettage but no filling.


METHODS
We retrospectively studied 78 patients (mean age at the time of operation was 27 (6-73) years, 44 men) who had had a benign bone tumor curetted with no filling of the defect. The commonest tumor types were giant cell tumor of bone (27), fibrous dysplasia (13), enchondroma (9), and simple bone cyst (7). The mean size of the lesions was 35 (2-196) cm(3). Normal activities, including full weight bearing for lower extremity lesions, were allowed after 3 months or less. The patients were followed for an average of 10 (1.2-21) years.


RESULTS
A postoperative fracture with a minor displacement occurred in 3 patients, in 2 of them because of local recurrence. All fractures healed. Local recurrence occurred in 9 patients; 7 of them had a giant cell tumor. Repeated local recurrences necessitated above-knee amputation in 1 patient. All other patients had unrestricted activities of daily living.


CONCLUSIONS
Routine filling of curetted bone lesions does not appear to be necessary from a mechanical point of view.
Yanagawa
Takashi
T
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan. tyanagaw@med.gunma-u.ac.jp
Watanabe
Hideomi
H
Shinozaki
Tetsuya
T
Takagishi
Kenji
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001845:Bone Cysts / Q000601:surgery; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016723:Bone Remodeling / Q000502:physiology; D003475:Curettage / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018212:Giant Cell Tumor of Bone / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult