Giant Cell Lesions of the Jaw

A number of lesions that affect the jaws typically display multinucleated giant cells as one of their histopathologic components. Such a list would include infectious granulomatous processes, response to exogenous material such as giant cell hyaline angiopathy, and benign neoplasm including osteoblastoma, cementoblastoma, juvenile active ossifying fibroma, chondroblastoma, chondromyxoid fibroma, and several malignant bone tumors. Additionally, several other entities occur in which giant cells are the predominant histologic finding and the basis for their recognition. This latter group of lesions, including central giant cell granuloma, giant cell tumor of bone, aneurysmal bone cyst, cherubism, and the brown tumor of hyperparathyroidism, is the focus of discussion in this book.