Larynx, hypopharynx & trachea
Benign tumors / nonneoplastic
Giant cell tumor
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Last author update: 1 November 2013
Last staff update: 30 June 2022
Copyright: 2002-2023, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Giant cell tumor larynx
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Case reports | Treatment | Microscopic (histologic) description | Differential diagnosis | Additional referencesCite this page: Pernick N. Giant cell tumor. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/larynxgiantcelltumor.html. Accessed September 21st, 2023.
Definition / general
- Rare; < 50 cases reported
- Benign but can invade into vital structures or cause airway obstruction
- Usually involves thyroid cartilage in areas of enchondral ossification with extension into adjacent structures
Case reports
- 23 year old man with 4 cm mass arising in thyroid cartilage (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1994;118:834)
Treatment
- Excision; no recurrences reported
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Numerous multinucleated osteoclast-like giant cells within cellular and vascular stroma containing plump, oval mononuclear cells with nuclei similar to giant cells
- Expansile and infiltrative growth; frequent mitotic figures; often secondary cystic degeneration, reactive bone formation; no cytologic atypia
Differential diagnosis
- Aneurysmal bone cyst
- Brown tumor of hyperparathyroidism
- Fibrous histiocytoma
- Foreign body reaction
- Giant cell reparative granuloma:
- Aggregated cells, often near areas of hemorrhage and no giant cells with 20+ nuclei
- More fibrotic stroma
- Nonossifying fibroma
- Osteoblastoma:
- Fewer giant cells, broad sheets of mineralized osteoid
Additional references
