MRI findings of giant cell tumors of the spine

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to describe the MRI features of giant cell tumors of the spine in 10 patients. CONCLUSION: One of the tumors was located in C7. The other nine tumors were located in the thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and sacrum, three in each site. The characteristic findings included an expansile mass with heterogeneous low to intermediate signal intensity on the T2-weighted images (10/10), a curvilinear area of signal void on T1- and T2-weighted images (9/10), and cystic changes within the mass (4/10). Although no imaging feature was pathognomonic, MRI was found to be valuable in identifying the tumor, revealing its extent, and defining its relationship with the intraspinal structures.