Giant cell tumors of the calvaria

The authors report and discuss four rare cases of primary, giant cell tumor of the cranial vault, a usually benign tumor that develops in young patients and has an extremely low rate of latent malignancy. The authors believe the preferred treatment to be total surgical removal of the tumor; only in rare cases of malignancy when the tumor is impossible to remove totally should this be combined with radiotherapy. Associated minor trauma played only a tumor-revealing role and was not involved in the etiology.