Abdominal and extra-abdominal desmoid tumors. Report of 21 cases.

Desmoid tumors are easily diagnosed when located within the muscles of the abdominal wall. On the contrary, extra-abdominal desmoids, because of their various sites and lack of pathognomonic signs, can be very difficult to diagnose. A review of 21 cases of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan confirms that these tumors primarily affect young, multiparous women and that even extra-abdominal desmoids are prevalent in women.

Topography and clinical characteristics of malignant tumors of the urachus.

Nine patients with urachal tumors have been reevaluated. There were 5 men and 4 women, whose ages ranged from 6 to 72 years. Surgery was performed in 4 cases, radiotherapy was used in 2 cases, and the remaining 3 cases were judged to be beyond therapeutic help.

Needle biopsy of endothoracic neoformations: a five-year experience.

We dwell upon the importance of percutaneous biopsy in the diagnosis of endothoracic masses, comparing the results of the cutting needles to those of the fine needle aspiration biopsy. We began utilizing the Vim-Silverman needle with good results (73.7% diagnoses) and a small number of complications, only 1 of which needed treatment, but in the light of the severe and lethal complications described in the literature, we came to prefer the use of the fine needle aspiration technique, which provided good results, too, (74% diagnoses) and enlarged the diagnostic range of the percutaneous biopsy of the lung in cases of deep, or mediastinal masses.