Results of Curettage and High-speed Burring for Chondroblastoma of the Bone

Background: Chondroblastomas of the bone are rare lesions. Most of these lesions can besuccessfully treated by curettage and bone grafting. However, a considerablerate of recurrence has been reported, especially in aggressive lesions. Thepurpose of this study was to report the results of 10 cases of chondroblastomasof the bone treated with curettage and high-speed burring.Methods: Ten patients with histologically confirmed chondroblastoma of the bonewere treated with curettage and high-speed burring between October 1991and August 2000. There were 7 men and 3 women with an average age of18.9 (range, 12 to 30) years. Radiographically, 3 were classified as havingaggressive lesions, and 7 were classified as having non-aggressive ones. Fortreatment, 8 of them had defects packed with either bone grafts or bone substitutes;1 defect was packed with bone cement; and the other was left alonebecause the lesion was small.Results: At an average follow-up period of 62 (range, 8 to 112) months, all patientshad painless, normal function of the affected limb without local recurrence ordistant metastasis. Complete healing of the lesion was seen in 8 patientsincluding the one without a bone graft. The lesion in 1 patient who hadreceived bone cement remained unchanged radiographically. One patientexperienced incomplete healing of the lesion, which was caused by inadequatepacking of the bone substitute.Conclusion: Curettage and high-speed burring represent an effective method for the treatmentof chondroblastoma of the bone whether in the non-aggressive oraggressive stage.