Thoracoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery for esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a case report

Esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are relatively rare, accounting for 2-5% of all GISTs. Typically, the treatment is surgery in nature. However, no standard procedure established for esophageal GISTs, and in many cases, subtotal esophagectomy or local resection via thoracoscopy or mediastinoscopy is performed. Thoracoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery (TECS) is a surgical approach similar to laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery used for gastric GIST; however, no reports of its use for esophageal GIST have been published to date. We herein report such a case along with a review of past literature.

The patient was a 60-year-old man. Upper gastrointestinal contrast imaging revealed a subepithelial lesion in the esophagus. An 18 × 17 mm subepithelial lesion was identified in the left wall, 35 cm from the upper incisors, during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and was diagnosed as a GIST through endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy. TECS was therefore performed. The patient was placed in a prone position with his face to the left. After confirming the lesion under endoscopy and left thoracoscopy, the periesophageal area of the lesion was dissected under thoracoscopy. Subsequently, an endoscopic full-layer resection was performed. Finally, the excision site of the lesion was sutured under thoracoscopy. The operation took a total of 3 h and 22 min, with a blood loss of 50 mL.

The appropriate surgical procedure for esophageal GIST should be considered according to the location and size of the lesion. TECS ensures that the resection margins are secured using an endoscopic or thoracoscopic approach. Furthermore, TECS is minimally invasive, avoiding esophagectomy and reconstruction, which makes it a potential surgical option for esophageal GISTs.