[Long-term results of the treatment of a giant cell tumor with en-bloc resection and unconventional hip arthroplasty with ipsilateral knee arthrodesis. Clinical case report and literature review].

Giant cell tumor (GCT) is an aggressive benign neoplasia that accounts for 5% of primary bone tumors and 20% of all benign bone tumors. It appears almost exclusively after skeletal maturation, between 20 and 40 years of age, and is predominant among females. We report the case of a 39 year-old male patient who in 1988 sustained a left hip fracture in a pathological area. On July 20, 1988 he underwent excisional biopsy and curettage; on January 13, 1989 broad resection and arthrodesis of the left hip were performed with a cobra plate. The histopathologic diagnosis was GCT. On October 2, 1990 the cobra plate was removed due to fatigue. The patient was referred to our service with a floating hip joint and left knee anchylosis. On February 11, 1991 he underwent unconventional hip arthroplasty with a long stem up to the femoral supracondylar area. On February 2, 1995 the implant was removed due to fatigue. On February 16, 1995 an unconventional prosthesis with a long stem was re-implanted for knee arthrodesis. Final shortening was 10 cm. On November 17, 2010 he had radiographic signs of acetabular loosening and fatigue of the arthrodesis stem. On March 17, 2011 the unconventional prosthesis was removed, en-bloc resection of the distal femur was performed, and acetabular and femoral components were put in place. He is currently painless, walks with crutches and has 5.5 cm of shortening. The proximal femur is an infrequent site for GCT. Controlling the neoplasia and limb preservation are the major challenges that orthopedic surgeons and patients face. There are only a few published papers on revision of unconventional arthroplasty. There are no cases published on unconventional hip arthroplasty with ipsilateral knee arthrodesis.