[Maxillary and mandibular desmoid fibromas (author's transl)]

Desmoid fibromas in the abdominal wall were described by Mac Marlene in 1832, and Jaffe reported a similar condition in bones in 1958. These bone desmoid fibromas are infrequently observed (0.5% of all bone tumors) and are of rare occurrence in the maxillary bones. Four such cases (3 mandibular and 1 maxillary) are reported by the authors, who also reviewed the published literature and found a total of 26 patients with similar lesions possessing very similar characteristics to dermoid fibromas in other locations. Therapy is difficult because of the frequency of recurrence after simple enucleation due to the poorly defined limits of the lesion and subclinical peripheral spread, and two mandibular resections had to be performed.