Desmoid tumors and their management.

Nineteen cases of desmoid tumors were reviewed, being intraabdominal. Five of the 7 were associated with polyposis coli. The remaining 12 cases were distributed in different anatomic locations. Sixteen patients were treated with resection either alone or in combination with radiation or hormonal treatment. There were two deaths due to unrelated causes, and the rest of the patients (89 percent) are alive. At present, 16 of the surviving 17 patients are disease-free with a mean follow-up of 6 years. In two of eight patients who were initially treated with wide excision at our center, local recurrence developed, and five patients treated with resection elsewhere were referred because of recurrence. Six patients treated with simple resection and adjuvant radiation remain free of disease with a mean follow-up of 5 1/2 years.