Incidental computed tomography diagnosis of a giant oesophageal leiomyosarcoma

Leiomyosarcoma of the oesophagus is a very unusual tumour; only 53 cases have been reported in the English-language literature. A case is reported here of a patient with a giant leiomyosarcoma, without any symptoms of dysphagia. The diagnosis was made incidentally during CT examination of the chest for detection of possible pulmonary metastases from a coexisting carcinoma of the bladder. This was confirmed by a barium swallow, oesophagoscopy and tissue diagnosis. The literature pertaining to this most uncommon tumour is reviewed.