Pregnancy does not increase the local recurrence rate after surgical resection of desmoid-type fibromatosis.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy has been reported as a risk factor for promoting growth and progression of desmoid-type fibromatosis because of the presumed role of estrogens in stimulating desmoid growth. In this study, the clinical outcomes of females who were pregnant 5 years or less before resection of desmoid tumor or who became pregnant after resection were compared to nulliparous females or females who were pregnant more than 5 years before resection.

METHODS: Obstetric histories of desmoid tumor patients were abstracted from medical records. Patients were grouped by pregnancy status as either: pregnancy-associated (pregnant up to 5 years before primary desmoid tumor resection or pregnant after resection) or not pregnancy-associated (nulliparous or pregnant more than 5 years before resection of desmoid tumor). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate pregnancy status as a predictor of desmoid tumor recurrence.

RESULTS: There were 15 females who had pregnancy-associated desmoids (33%) and 31 females who had non-pregnancy-associated desmoids (67%). There were no differences in clinicopathologic features or recurrence-free survival between females of different pregnancy status in univariate or multivariate survival analyses.

CONCLUSION: Recurrence-free survival rates among women recently pregnant before or pregnant after resection of desmoid tumor and nulliparous women or those with a remote history of pregnancy are comparable after adjusting for patient age, anatomic location, and completeness of surgical resection. Subsequent pregnancy should not be discouraged for reproductive-aged women after resection of desmoid-type fibromatosis.