Laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy in case of large subcardial GISTs

The gastro-intestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) are rare mesenchymal tumours that occur mostly in the stomach. The treatment is usually a limited resection, which is performed by an endoscopy or by a surgical approach. In case of metastasis of the disease proven found during the assessment, the treatment is usually limited to chemotherapy without a radical cure. We report a case of a large (9 cm) subcardial GIST that we treated by laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy due to the size and the location of the tumour. The laparoscopic resection is shown to be superior in perioperative outcomes compared to open surgery even for large lesions. In unfavourable locations such as in cardia lesions, transgastric, partial or extended gastric resections must be evaluated to avoid functional sequelae and post-operative morbidity.