Introduction: Desmoid tumors are a clinical problem in 12 to 15 percent of patients with familial adenomatous polyposis. There is no predictably effective treatment for intra-abdominal desmoid tumors, which sometimes cause significant complications by their effects on the ureters or bowel. The relative rarity and the clinical heterogeneity of intra-abdominal desmoid tumors make randomized studies difficult to do. In this article a staging system is proposed to make multi-institutional studies easier.
Methods: Intra-abdominal desmoid tumors can be staged according to their size, clinical presentation and growth pattern.
Conclusion: A way of staging intra-abdominal desmoid tumors is proposed to facilitate stratification by disease severity during collaborative studies of various treatments.