Whereas uncommon for typical GCT a relatively high
rate of patients with tumors of the axial skeleton suffer
from neurological impairments either at diagnosis or due
to therapy. Three of our spine (cases 3, 5, 6) and two
of our sacrum patients (cases 16 and 19) had deficits at
first presentation. For the spine this rate is in accordance
with previous reports of 50 to 70% [19, 22, 25] whereas
for the sacrum it seems to be lower. All of our spine
patients recovered from their impairments after treatment
whereas in the sacrum the deficits were persistent. One
spine patient (case 1) developed a loss of sensory function
and paresthesias, one sacrum patient (case 7) developed
neurological claw toes, another (case 11) a conus/cauda
syndrome after surgery. One patient (case 9) developed a
footdrop due to progress of a sacral tumor. Thus compared
to GCT of the long bones, surgical treatment is accompanied
by a high risk of neurological deficits