Subtotal removal of the scapula for aneurysmal bone cyst.

An otherwise healthy girl, ten years old, first complained of pain and swelling in the right scapula in June 1953. There was no interference with function of her shoulder or arm. Radiographs gave evidence of an expanding cystic tumour in the body of the scapula. All other investigations showed no abnormality. The lesion was explored. The cyst was opened, curetted and filled with bone chips. It contained a thin sanguineous fluid and a scanty lining membrane. This presented the histology of a benign giant-cell tumour, with large thin-walled spaces filled with blood and some areas of new-bone formation (Fig. 1). The walls of the septa between the cyst spaces were fibrous.