CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Nuclear Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1653522
This article is part of the Research TopicCase Reports in PET Imaging 2024View all 7 articles
18 F-FDG PET/CT revealed primary malignant giant cell tumor of the sacrum: A case report
Provisionally accepted
- Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
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Primary malignant giant cell tumor of bone (PMGCTB), which is usually confirmed to contain a high-grade sarcomatous component at the time of initial diagnosis, accounts for 1.6% of giant cell tumors of bone (GCTB). PMGCTB usually occurs in the epiphysis of long bones, which is similar to GCTB, and only 1.4-9.4% of GCTB occurs in the spine.PMGCTB in the spine is extremely rare. Herein, we present a 46-year-old man who came to the hospital seeking medical help for lumbosacral pain. Computed tomography (CT) was performed because the clinician suspected that the patient had a herniated disc, and the results showed that the 5th lumbar vertebrae to the 2nd sacral vertebrae showed bone destruction, accompanied by soft tissue tumors near the vertebrae, some of which protruded into the spinal canal and sacral canal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the lesion demonstrating isointense signal on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), mixed hyperintense signal on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), and obvious enhancement on contrast-enhanced T1WI. Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT showed obviously increased 18 F-FDG uptake in the lesion.Subsequently, the patient underwent CT guided biopsy and was diagnosed as PMGCTB by pathology. Because of the poor prognosis of PMGCTB, early diagnosis is essential for rational treatment of PMGCTB. In the current paper, we will review the relevant literature and discuss the clinical, imaging, pathological characteristics and differential diagnosis of the relatively rare disease.
Keywords: malignant giant cell tumor of bone, Sacrum, 18F-FDG, PET/CT, MGCTB
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Yu and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ronghua Yu, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
Xianwen Hu, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
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