The Role of Reconstruction on Desmoid Tumor Recurrence: A Systematic Review and Technical Considerations

Background Desmoid tumors occur throughout the body, presenting as aggressive, locally invasive lesions that can impede quality of life. Many controversies remain regarding the optimal surgical treatment of desmoid. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis on surgical management, focusing on risk of recurrence and the utility of reconstruction within this unique patient population. Methods A systematic review was conducted to search for articles. The clinical course of patients diagnosed with desmoid tumors and treated by our institution's multidisciplinary team was retrospectively reviewed over a 13-year period. Meta-analysis study findings were compared with our cohort. Results From the systematic review, 10 studies with level of evidence III were found, which resulted in 981 patients. Twenty patients from our institution met the inclusion criteria for our study. In both our study cohort and the pooled results, recurrence was significantly higher in patients with positive microscopic margin after resection. In our study cohort, patients with recurrence had higher rates of positive margins compared with those without recurrence (83.3% vs 7.1%, P = 0.004), whereas the pooled study showed a difference of margin positivity of 50% vs 40% (P = 0.01). No patients who underwent reconstruction in our study cohort had a recurrence during the study period. Conclusion In both our cohort and pooled results, recurrence was significantly higher in patients with positive margins after initial resection. Reconstruction was not found to be a risk factor for recurrence. Reconstruction following desmoid tumor resection should be considered a viable option if a large and aggressive resection is required to obtain negative margins.