A case of Gardner's syndrome.

Further questioning revealed that the patient was delivered by Caesarean section in the 36th week of pregnancy because her mother had developed intestinal obstruction. Laparotomy performed at the same time showed the presence of multiple peritoneal secondary deposits. The patient's grandmother, two of her uncles and one aunt had died of bowel cancer. This family history together with the presence of skin tumours suggested a diagnosis of Gardner's syndrome and further investigation along these lines was carried out. At the time of her first admission to hospital in 1972 no sign of polyposis was seen at sigmoidoscopy but there was suspicion of multiple polypi on the barium enema examination and on barium meal and follow-through a few small lucent areas were noted in the small bowel suggestive of polypi.