Gastrointestinal desmoid tumor

What it means

Benign, slow-growing tumors without any metastatic potential. Despite their benign nature, they can damage nearby structures causing organ dysfunction. Histologically they resemble low-grade fibrosarcomas, but they are very locally aggressive and tend to recur even after complete resection. There is a tendency for recurrence in the setting of prior surgery and the most common localisation of these tumors is intraabdominal from smooth muscle cells of the instestine.

Most cases are sporadic, but some are associated with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Approximately 10% of individuals with Gardner's syndrome, a type of FAP with extracolonic features, have desmoid tumors. Risk factors for desmoid disease amongst FAP patients include female gender, a 3' APC mutation, a positive family history and a history of previous abdominal surgery.

Rare diseases that can present with this5

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions, and Orphanet separately records 1 disease where this sign is specifically absent. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Desmoid tumors · Desmoid tumours