Correlation of clinico-pathologic features and AgNOR counts between aggressive and nonaggressive central gaint cell lesions

The aim of this study was to review all the cases of central giant cell lesions (CGCLs) of the jaws which appeared in archives of Government Dental College and Hospital, Nagpur, during the period 1978-2004. CGCLs which were termed 'aggressive' based on clinical behavior were compared with 'non-aggressive' lesions in order to evaluate if any histologic difference existed between them. In addition, a study of silver (Ag) nucleolar organizing regions (AgNOR) counts was performed to delineate lesions of varying behavior. A total of 34 cases were examined for clinical and radiologic features, and 27 cases were evaluated for histopathology. We identified statistically significant differences between aggressive and nonaggressive lesions with respect to certain histological characteristics such as shape of mononuclear cells, shape of giant cells, and number of nuclei per giant cell. It was also found that there was a definite and statistically significant correlation between the aggressiveness of the lesion and the AgNOR count.