Central giant cell granuloma (CGCG) is a benign jaw lesion with variable clinical behavior. Cell cannibalism is a cellular process associated with aggressiveness and invasion in malignant neoplasms. Here, we morphologically investigated cell cannibalism as an auxiliary method to predict CGCG clinical behavior. Cell cannibalism was quantitatively evaluated in 19 cases of peripheral giant cell granuloma (PGCG), 38 cases of CGCG (non-aggressive and aggressive), and 19 cases of giant cell tumor of bone (GCT) stained with hematoxylin and eosin. T-test was performed to assess the differences between the variables analyzed (p ≤ 0.05). Cell cannibalism was identified in 21% of non-aggressive CGCGs and 68.4% of aggressive CGCGs. A significantly higher amount of cannibal multinucleated giant cells (CMGC) was observed in aggressive CGCG compared to PGCG and non-aggressive CGCG (p = 0.042; p = 0.044, respectively). There were no significant differences in the CMGC index between non-aggressive CGCG and PGCG (p = 0.858) and between aggressive CGCG and GCT (p = 0.069). CGGC cases that exhibited rapid growth and tooth displacement and/or root resorption had a higher amount of CMGC (p = 0.035; p = 0.041, respectively). Cell cannibalism can be identified in CGCG through routine anatomopathological examination. The quantification of CMGC can help to predict the clinical behavior of central giant cell granuloma.

中央巨细胞肉芽肿(CGCG) 是一种良性颌骨病变，临床表现各异。细胞同类相食是与恶性肿瘤的攻击性和侵袭性相关的细胞过程。在这里，我们从形态学上研究了细胞同类相食作为预测 CGCG 临床行为的辅助方法。对 19 例外周巨细胞肉芽肿 (PGCG)、38 例 CGCG（非侵袭性和侵袭性）以及 19 例苏木精和伊红染色的骨巨细胞瘤 ( GCT ) 进行了细胞同类相食的定量评估。进行 T 检验以评估所分析变量之间的差异 ( p  ≤ 0.05)。在 21% 的非攻击性 CGCG 和 68.4% 的攻击性 CGCG 中发现了细胞同类相食现象。与 PGCG 和非攻击性 CGCG 相比，攻击性 CGCG 中观察到的食人多核巨细胞 (CMGC) 数量显着增加（分别为p  = 0.042； p  = 0.044）。非侵袭性 CGCG 和 PGCG ( p  = 0.858) 以及侵袭性 CGCG 和 GCT 之间 ( p  = 0.069)之间的 CMGC 指数没有显着差异表现出快速生长和牙齿移位和/或牙根吸收的 CGGC 病例具有较高量的 CMGC（分别为p  = 0.035； p  = 0.041）。通过常规解剖病理学检查可以识别 CGCG 中的细胞同类相食现象。CMGC的定量有助于预测中央巨细胞肉芽肿的临床行为。