Clinical and imaging observations of desmoid tumors left without treatment

Abstract

Background Until now, surgical treatment has been the mainstay in the treatment of desmoid tumors, even though it is associated with a high recurrence rate. There have, however, been occasional case reports showing that desmoid tumors may spontaneously decrease in size or even disappear.

Patients and methods This is a retrospective review of 8 patients with abdominal (5) or extra-abdominal (3) desmoid tumors who were followed both clinically and with imaging techniques (sonography, CT or MRI). Mean follow-up time was 4.4 (0.8–7.5) years. Tumor volume was assessed in each investigation and followed over time.

Results 3 tumors disappeared, 2 diminished in size, 1 did not change and 2 tumors became larger, 1 of which had trippled in volume at the latest follow-up.

Interpretation Desmoid tumors have probably been overtreated in the past. Many of them tend to regress spontaneously.

Contributions of authors

MD and PB examined patient files, reviewed clinical data, performed clinical examinations of patients and wrote an outline of the manuscript. BG contributed ideas and an outline of the study, and prepared the final manuscript in collaboration with the other authors. MG and HK reviewed all imaging analyses and contributed to parts of the manuscript.