CENTRAL GIANT CELL GRANULOMA: A DIAGNOSTIC PREDICAMENT

Giant cell lesions in the oral tissues occur as intraosseous growths within the jaws and as extrabony lesions in the soft tissues. The intrabony lesions comprise the giant cell tumor of bone, the central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) and the focal giant cell lesion or “BrownTumor ” of hyperparathyroidism. The one that occurs in the jaws has been characterized by ‘Jaffe ’ as giant cell granuloma since it seems unlikely that the lesion is reparative.1 Much controversy surrounds the nature of CGCG. Initially, it was not distinguished from giant cell tumor (GCT) of the extragnathic skeleton, but later it was described by Jaffe as giant cell reparative granuloma. In recent years the word ‘reparative ’ has