Gastric schwannoma

Schwannomas, also known as neurinomas or neurilemmomas, are generally benign, slow-growing neoplasms originating in any nerve that has a Schwann cell sheath. These neoplasms are rare among the spindle cell mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, but develop most commonly in the stomach representing 0.2% of all gastric tumors. We present the case of a 57-year-old female patient with a large schwannoma in the stomach that was palpable in the abdomen. She underwent subtotal gastrectomy under suspicion of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), but post-operative histopathological and immunohistochemical findings showed a fascicular arrangement of spindle cell with pallisading nuclei, and positive for S-100 protein with negative smooth muscle actin (SMA). These results confirmed schwannoma as the diagnosis.