Measurement of invasive potential provides an accurate prognostic marker for giant cell tumour of tendon sheath.

Abstract

Giant cell tumours of tendon sheath vary from solitary nodules to a multinodular variety that exhibits local infiltration. Recent advances in molecular oncology have defined a gene, nm23, expressed in normal cells which is responsible for inhibiting infiltration. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of nm23 in a series of 52 giant cell tumours using immunohistochemistry and to assess its prognostic potential, nm23 expression was absent in 21% of tumours and this was associated with a highly significant risk of local recurrence ( P