Surgical treatment of intra-abdominal desmoid tumors resulting in short bowel syndrome

Matthew Wheeler; David Mercer; Wendy Grant; Jean Botha; Alan Langnas; Jon Thompson

doi:10.3390/cancers4010031

Surgical treatment of intra-abdominal desmoid tumors resulting in short bowel syndrome

Cancers (Basel). 2012 Jan 19;4(1):31-8. doi: 10.3390/cancers4010031.

Authors

Matthew Wheeler¹, David Mercer, Wendy Grant, Jean Botha, Alan Langnas, Jon Thompson

Affiliation

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, The Nebraska Medical Center 3280, Omaha, NE 68198, USA. jthompso@unmc.edu.

Abstract

Advanced intra-abdominal desmoids tumors present with severe symptoms, complications or rapid growth, which lead to adverse outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate the treatment and outcome of patients with advanced intra-abdominal desmoids tumors, and develop guidelines for surgical management of these patients. We reviewed the clinical courses of 21 adult patients with advanced stage intra-abdominal desmoid tumors who presented to an intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation program. Patients with massive intestinal resection presented in two groups. The first group had a short small intestinal remnant after resection ( < 60 cm). These patients were poor rehabilitation candidates and eventually met criteria for transplant. The second had longer intestinal remnants and were more successfully rehabilitated and have not had complications that would lead to transplantation. Advanced intra-abdominal desmoid tumors have outcomes after resection that merit aggressive resection and planned intestinal rehabilitation and intestinal transplantation as indicated.