Abdominal wall fibromatosis associated with previous laparoscopic hernia repair

Two cases of desmoid-type fibromatosis developing after laparoscopic hernia repair are described: one in a young male 3 years after laparoscopic umbilical hernia repair and the other in a young female 1 year after laparoscopic incisional hernia repair.

The male patient presented with a slowly enlarging non-tender firm abdominal wall mass; the female patient had similar findings. Excision biopsy in the male and core biopsy in the female were consistent with fibromatosis.

The young male patient underwent resection of the fibromatosis, and the female patient has been managed conservatively.

These are the first documented cases of fibromatosis developing after laparoscopic hernia surgery. Whilst the safety of hernia meshes has been assessed in animal studies, it may be that more detailed study of intraperitoneal placement of these meshes is required.