IN VITRO TISSUE CUL,TURE STUDY ON GIANT CELL TUMOR OF BONE

In vitro tissue culture of 22 giant cell tumors (GCTs) of the bone in 19 cases was undertaken. Primary growth was successful in all. 11 were Grade I tumors, 10 Grade n and l Grade III. The average survival of the 3 grades of GCTs was in order 167.3, 219 and 625 days. Of these, 6 were postoperative recurrent GCTs, their life span ranging from 198 t0 6.25 days. It is apparent that the higher the pathologic grade of GCT, the longer the survival of cultured cells. Recurring tumors also manifested more active growth po- tential. This lends support to the view that the existing pathologic grading remains valuable for clinical reference. Multinucleated giant cell usually survived 3 weeks, occasionally 3 months. Growth of the stromal cells maint.ained from 5 weeks t0 8 months. The circumstantial evidence indicates that the stromal cells, not the giant cells, should be considered as the offending neoplastic invader.