Desmoid tumor--review and follow-up of ten cases

Ten cases of desmoid tumor, diagnosed, treated, and followed during the past 11 years, were reviewed and the patients reexamined. Two were up to 3 years, two up to 5 years, and four up to 11 years after excision. The remaining two patients were lost to follow-up. The 10 patients included one male and nine females; six females were of childbearing age and three were postmenopausal. In four females the desmoid tumor was located near various surgical scars. In the one recurrent desmoid it was most probably related to both repeated traumatization of the abdominal wall due to pregnancies and hyperestrogenism. All the surgical margins of resection were microscopically involved by the process. An open liver biopsy, performed simultaneously with the excision of the recurrent desmoid, showed benign nodular hyperplasia compatible with hyperestrogenism. Estrogen and progesterone receptors of this desmoid were negative. In the present series follow-up revealed, in contrast to general agreement, that in spite of incomplete excision, the recurrence rate was low. We suggest that the surgical approach to desmoid tumors could be less radical, except possibly for lesions in patients with multiple causative factors.