Giant-cell tumour of the tendon sheath: A review

Introduction Giant-cell tumour of the tendon sheath is a solitary, firm, extraarticular localized, benign, soft tissue tumour that usually presents with painless swelling for several years. Aetiology of the disease is unknown. It is a relatively rare soft tissue tumour, an overall incidence is 1 in 50,000 individuals and usually affects people between 30 to 50 years. It is more often seen in women, the female to male ratio is 3:2. There is no certain treatment protocol but complete local excision with or without radiotherapy is the treatment of choice. Local recurrence after excision is approximately 10 % to 20 %. It typically affects small joints of hands and feet. Also, it can be found around the ankle, knee joints, elbow or hip. The aim of this review was to discuss giant-cell tumours of the tendon sheath. Conclusion There are lots of obscurities about this topic, so more prospective well – designed studies including large number of cases are necessary to determine the prognostic factors, recurrence rate and proper treatment protocol for each individual patient.