Filling of the resultant cavity after curettage of benign bone tumours is still controversial.

INTRODUCTION: Benign bone tumours occur most commonly during the first through third decades of life and often weaken the bones, which may predispose them to pathological fractures. Great diversity and debate in the management of primary bone tumours are based on the tumour extent. There has been an increasing trend toward the intra-operative filling of these lesions. We hypothesised that in some benign bone tumours, filling the resulting cavity after curettage was unnecessary. This study was carried out to determine whether it is necessary to fill the resultant cavity after the curettage of benign bone tumours and to represent various fillers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of patients diagnosed as benign bone tumours according to the Enneking classification who underwent simple or extended curettage at Menoufia university-Orthopedic Oncology Division (with or without grafting or filling) during the surgical treatment (Jan 2015 to Feb 2020). A review of the medical records was done. Lesions' size (length, width and depth) was measured on plain radiographs using the image j program. When applicable, degrees of filling of the resultant cavity were classified into four categories, according to Modified Neer's classification. Functional evaluation using the musculoskeletal tumour society (MSTS) score was reviewed.

RESULTS: Overall, 88 patients diagnosed with a primary bone tumour and who received the surgical intervention were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 22.61+13.497 (3-58) years. There were 48 males and 40 females (54 right and 34 left). The mean follow-up period was 28.09+16.13 months. The most common location was the distal femur in 15 patients, the proximal femur in 10 patients and the proximal tibia in 12 patients. The most common diagnosis was giant cell tumour in 20 patients, followed by UBC in 19 patients, ABC in 15 patients and enchondroma in 13 patients. Twenty-three patients had simple curettage, while 65 patients had extended curettage. Mean MSTS was 28.78±1.68. Fifty-five lesions were classified according to modified Neer's classification.Thirtty-two patients were classified as type 1 with complete healing,22 patient was classified as type 2 with partial healing, and only one was classified as a recurrent lesion. Seven patients (7.9%) developed local recurrences.

CONCLUSION: Filling the resulting cavity after the removal of the pathological tissues is usually necessary but not always required. This is determined by the type of lesion and the size of the resulting cavity following curettage. Individualised surgery is required; additional fixation should be considered.