GIANT EGIST OF THE TRANSVERSE MESOCOLON: CASE REPORT

Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors are rare tumors of the gastroistestinal tract. Less than 5% of these are not associated to the gastrointestinal tract, being designated EGISTs. EGISTs of the mesocolon are extremely rare, with just a few cases reported in the literature. We present the case of an 82-year old female presenting with nausea and vomiting for a month, having had an ultra-sound(US) and CT which showed “large tumoral formation, mainly cystic, with significant contrast uptake in the solid component, measuring 16,6x11,2 cm, apparently independent from the tail of the pancreas, in the likely dependence of the gastric wall”. Endoscopic US and FNA were perfomed but the result was inconclusive. The patient underwent exploratory laparotomy with atypical gastrectomy, excision of the anterior layer of the transverse mesocolon and omentectomy en-bloc. Histopathology report revealed ephitelioid type malignant EGIST. pT4N0. By patient will no adjuvant therapy was performed. Although rare, GISTs are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the GI tract, nevertheless EGISTs of the mesocolon are extremely rare. Contrarily to what happens with GISTs, the pathogenesis, incidence and prognosis are not fully established for EGIST since there are few cases described. We present a brief review on the diagnosis and therapeutic approach to these cases.