Case report

Desmoid tumor in Gardner's Syndrome presented as acute abdomen

Andreas Hatzimarkou¹ , Dimitrios Filippou¹ , Vasilios Papadopoulos² , Georgios Filippou¹ , Spiros Rizos¹ and Panagiotis Skandalakis³

¹1^st Department of General Surgery, GP Hospital "Tzaneio", Pireaus, Tzani & Afentouli str. Pireaus, Athens, Greece

²Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Democrition University of Thrace, Alexandroupoli, Greece

³1^st Department of Surgery, Medical School, University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75, 11527 Goudi, Athens, Greece

author email corresponding author email

World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2006, 4:18doi:10.1186/1477-7819-4-18

Published:	28 March 2006

Abstract

Background

Gardner's syndrome can occasionally be complicated with intra-abdominal desmoid tumor. These tumors usually remain asymptomatic but can exhibit symptoms due to intestinal, vascular and ureteral compression and obstruction.

Case presentation

A rare case of a 41-year-old male patient with Gardner's syndrome complicated with intra-abdominal desmoid tumor, which first presented as acute abdomen, is presented.

Conclusion

Extra-abdominal manifestations of Gardner's syndrome along with a palpable abdominal mass would raise suspicion for the presence of a desmoid tumor in the majority of cases. In life-threatening cases, surgical treatment should be considered as a palliative approach, though the extent of excision remains debatable