Diagnostic problems of abdominal desmoid tumors in various locations.

BACKGROUND: Abdominal desmoid tumor is one of the forms of deep (musculoaponeurotic) fibromatosis. It occurs more often as a desmoid tumor in the abdominal wall, less often in various intra-abdominal locations. In this work, we performed retrospective study concerning diagnostic problems of this disease with the use of imaging techniques.
METHOD: Four patients (three females and one male) were examined by postcontrast CT (computed tomography) and one of them also by MR (magnetic resonance). All findings were correlated with the operational findings and histologic examination.
RESULTS: The findings were typical only in the case with the lesion located in the abdominal wall, three described cases of the intra-abdominal desmoid provided a broad range of differentially diagnostic possibilities (metastases, GIT tumors, lymphomas, etc.). In particular, the findings in infiltrative processes in intra-abdominal location and retroperitoneal involvement were less typical. Ultimately, the histological findings were decisive.
CONCLUSION: The possibility of the occurrence of intra-abdominal desmoid tumor must be considered particularly in younger individuals with rapidly growing tumorous process, which does not immediately arise from the surrounding organs (digestive tract, internal genitalia, etc.), and is located in the abdominal wall or in the abdominal cavity.