Simple bone cyst is a true benign lesion of primary intraosseous origin that almost always begins on the metaphyseal side of the epiphyseal plate of long bone in children. The pathogenesis is yet undetermined, but its clinical importance is stressed d...
Simple bone cyst is a true benign lesion of primary intraosseous origin that almost always begins on the metaphyseal side of the epiphyseal plate of long bone in children. The pathogenesis is yet undetermined, but its clinical importance is stressed due to prone to pathologic fracture and high recurrence rate. Regardless the variable methods of treatment have been performed, but there is no an established mode of treatment. Therefore we evaluated the results according to the mode of treatment.
We have studied 9 cases of simple bone cyst which where treated from Jun. 1987 to May 1995. The average duration of follow-up was 2 years. 3 cases were treated with curettage and bone graft, and 6 cases were treated with steroid injection. The clinical results were as follows :
1. Age distribution was from 4 years to 13 years (mean age 8.4 years). There were 7 boys and 2 girls. The male to female ratio was 3.5 to 1.
2. Skeletal location was proximal humerus in 5 cases, proximal femur & diatal femur, proximal radius, and proximal ulna in 1 case respectively.
3. In cases of curettage and bone graft, 2 cases were healed, and 1 case was recurred. Then, additional steroid injection was performed. And in 6 cases of steroid injection, 3 cases were healed, 2 cases were improved, and 1 case was recurred. However, all cases were completely healed.
4. There was no difference in the results between treatment of steroid injection and curettage & bone graft. And age, sex, location, and type of the cyst did not seem to influence the results of treatment.
In conclusion, the steroid injection is a simple and safe procedure, and more favorable results can be expected than other surgical methods. The steroid injection should be repeated in persisting or recurrent cases, but it is highly recommended as the method of choice in the initial treatment of simple bone cyst without accompanying a pathologic fracture.