Central giant cell granuloma (CGСG) is a benign but locally aggressive intraosseous lesion of the jaws. For a long time, the main method of treatment was surgery, but radical treatment was often unsuccessful and a high relapse rate was observed (reported to be up to 75% in aggressive tumors). So various drug therapy options were proposed using calcitonin, bisphosphonates, interferon-alpha, local administration of glucocorticosteroids. Since 2013, studies have appeared on the use of denosumab with a satisfactory clinical and radiological response. However, the use of denosumab is limited by the development of adverse effects of therapy and a relatively high relapse rate of the disease (up to 20%), which required a search for new drugs. Due to the direct effect of the imatinib on the RANK/RANKL system, several studies have appeared the positive effect without severe adverse effects. The report presents the first experience in Russia of using imatinib in the treatment of CGCG in children.

Alexandra Naumova has completed her PHD at the age of 34 years from Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Russia. She is a pediatric oncologist in the maxillofacial surgery department at the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russia. She has over 20 publications and she is the author of chapters in textbooks. She often participates in Russian and international conferences as a speaker. Her current main research interests are rare lymphoproliferative disorders, lymphomas, locally aggressive tumors of the head and neck in children and adolescents.