Sarcomas

Desmoid Tumors

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Treatment options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

• Surgery: Surgery to remove the tumor is the primary treatment for a Desmoid tumor. Because these tumors rarely spread or metastasize, surgery alone often is the only necessary treatment. However, Desmoid tumors have a high recurrence rate, meaning they return after treatment, if they aren't completely removed. Frequently, more than one surgery is needed.
• Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation from X-rays or other sources to kill cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may be used alone or in conjunction with surgery.
• Anti-inflammatory medication: Anti-inflammatory medication may be given to your child to help manage pain and swelling.
• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is the use of drugs -- taken orally or injected into a vein or muscle -- to kill cancer cells. Researchers are testing some types of chemotherapy to shrink desmoid tumors that located too close to blood vessels or other organs, making surgery difficult. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters your child's bloodstream and can kill cancer cells as it travels throughout the body.
• Hormone therapy: Anti-hormonal medications are sometimes used as a form of treatement because some hormones seem to increase the growth of Desmoid tumors.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007