[Benign stomach tumors: histology, diagnosis and surgical experience]

Benign neoplasms of the stomach lead to atypical symptoms. Radiological and endoscopic investigations are always recommended. Our surgical experience with 11 epithelial and 26 mesenchymal benign neoplasms is discussed. A local excision could be carried out in 24 patients, of whom 4 developed postoperative complications and one deceased. Ten cases required a partial and 3 cases a total gastrectomy. This was mainly due to the localisation or the extent of the lesions. One surgical complication occurred and one patient died. Relapse was never observed in the long-term (i.e. 6 years) follow-up of 29 patients. Nonetheless, a yearly radiological or endoscopical control is advocated since hyperplastic polyps can relapse as exaggerated healing of an ulcer, and because especially leiomyomas, neurilemmomas en lipomas carry a substantial risk of malignant degeneration.