A rare case of iron deficiency

Giant lipomas of the stomach are very rare, accounting for less than 3% of all benign tumors of the stomach. A clear-cut endoscopic differentiation between gastric lipomas and other submucosal neoplasms is not feasible, because routine endoscopic gastric biopsies do not reach the submucosal layer. Gastric submucosal lipomas can cause gastric ulceration as in the case presented below and in rare instances this may in turn promote gastric cancer. Therefore, complete pretreatment diagnostic evaluation is needed. We present a 52-year-old man with a 6-month history of epigastric discomfort, early satiety, decreased appetite, and dyspepsia. His weight was noted to be stable and he was iron deficient (hemoglobin 11.5 g/dl and ferritin of 5 g/dl). His past history included a gastric ulcer found on endoscopy 5 years ago for which he was on omeprazole 40 mg once a day, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes. Clinical examination revealed central obesity with divarification of recti muscles. He underwent a colonoscopy that was normal, and an oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy that revealed a smooth extrinsic indentation of the anterior aspect of the distal stomach at around 50 cm. Biopsies of this were normal. A computed tomography scan was obtained () that demonstrated a 14 by 15-cm fatty tumor arising from the distal stomach with a couple of 5-mm nodes adjacent to tumor and no distant metastasis representing either a lipoma, liposarcoma or gastrointestinal stromal tumours. He subsequently underwent a subtotal gastrectomy. Macroscopically, the antrum was distorted by a huge submucosal intramural tumor mass. The antral mucosa was stretched over its surface and bore a central 15-mm ulcer surrounded by a raised border (). Microscopic examination confirmed an ulcerated benign submucosal lipoma. Our patient was symptomatic with a large gastric lipoma that necessitated surgical excision. Following surgery his postoperative recovery was uneventful, and he was asymptomatic when reviewed 4 weeks later. This case demonstrates a rare case of gastric lipoma causing gastric epithelial ulceration leading to iron deficiency.