Small bowel gastrointestinal stromal tumor presenting with involvement of the adjacent small bowel and hemoperitoneum...

Accounting for less than one percent of all GI tumors, gastrointestinal stromal tumors are uncommon neoplasms that arise from the intestinal cells of Cajal. They can arise anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, but most often arise from the stomach or small bowel. Usually, they are small and present with vague symptoms such as abdominal pain and are found incidentally. They usually don't involve other structures unless they metastasize. Here, we present a case of small bowel GIST. The patient is a 72-year-old male who was seen in the clinic with symptoms of abdominal pain for 4 months along with intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding for 6 years. Imaging studies revealed a mass in the small bowel with no signs of obstruction. During surgery, a 9 cm by 9 cm small bowel mass was identified with adhesions to the appendix, omentum, and a segment of small bowel. There was also a hemoperitoneum. En bloc resection was performed with clean margins. Histopathology report showed malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor with focal involvement of adjacent small bowel loop.