Schwannoma: Differential diagnosis of a subepithelial gastric lesion. Two case report

The pre-operative differential diagnosis of gastric subepithelial lesions is complex. We can find pathologies with a very different behavior. Some of them, like gastrointestinal (GI) stromal tumors, can present a malignant behavior, and others like schwannomas are practically benign. Schwannomas of the GI tract originate from the Schwann cells of the Auerbach plexus and their most frequent location is the stomach. The definitive diagnosis is made by immunohistochemical analysis of the surgical specimen and its resection is curative. We report two cases of gastric subepithelial lesions with a definitive diagnosis of schwannoma.