Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Case Study
  • Published:

Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors and synchronous ileal carcinoids

Abstract

Background A 74-year-old African-American male presented with a 3-day history of hematemesis and melena. The patient reported no abdominal pain, constitutional symptoms, bright red blood per rectum, constipation, or diarrhea. His physical examination and medical history were unremarkable except for benign prostatic hypertrophy. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed a 3 × 2 × 2cm smooth round mass in the cardia, 2 cm distal to the gastroesophageal junction. Biopsy of the mass revealed an ulcerated tumor composed of spindle cells. Immunohistochemistry showed positive staining for a number of biochemical markers, including KIT, Ki-67 and smooth muscle actin, but was negative for the markers S100 and desmin. A gastric-wedge resection revealed an ulcerated 4.5cm mass in the stomach, and exploration of the abdomen revealed two ileal carcinoid tumors, jejunal diverticula and reactive mesenteric lymphadenopathy.

Investigations Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, biopsy, CT scan, immunohistochemistry, DNA microarray analysis and quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR.

Diagnosis Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors occurring concomitantly with ileal carcinoids.

Management Gastric-wedge resection and segmental resection.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Results from the CT scan.
Figure 2: The ulcerated mass as revealed by gastric-wedge resection.
Figure 3
Figure 4: Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the large gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

References

  1. DeMatteo RP (2002) The GIST of targeted cancer therapy: a tumor (gastrointestinal stromal tumor), a mutated gene (c-kit), and a molecular inhibitor (STI571). Ann Surg Oncol 9: 831–839

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kindblom LG et al. (1998) Gastrointestinal pacemaker cell tumor (GIPACT): gastrointestinal stromal tumors show phenotypic characteristics of the interstitial cells of Cajal. Am J Pathol 152: 1259–1269

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Miettinen M et al. (1999) Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: recent advances in understanding of their biology. Hum Pathol 30: 1213–1220

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Rudolph P et al. (1998) Immunophenotype, proliferation, DNA ploidy, and biological behavior of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a multivariate clinicopathologic study. Hum Pathol 29: 791–800

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Tornoczky T et al. (2003) Frequent occurrence of low grade cases among metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumours. J Clin Pathol 56: 363–367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Schaldenbrand JD and Appelman HD (1984) Solitary solid stromal gastrointestinal tumors in von Recklinghausen's disease with minimal smooth muscle differentiation. Hum Pathol 15: 229–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nishida T et al. (1998) Familial gastrointestinal stromal tumours with germline mutation of the KIT gene. Nat Genet 19: 323–324

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. DeMatteo RP et al. (2000) Two hundred gastrointestinal stromal tumors: recurrence patterns and prognostic factors for survival. Ann Surg 231: 51–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Joensuu H et al. (2002) Management of malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Lancet Oncol 3: 655–664

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Heinrich MC et al. (2003) Kinase mutations and imatinib response in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor. J Clin Oncol 21: 4342–4349

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles Cha.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Glossary

C-KIT

A proto-oncogene that encodes the cell membrane tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor, KIT

CHROMOGRANIN A

A gastric neuroendocrine cell marker usually absent in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

CD117

A cell surface antigen, which is expressed in mast cells and is an epitope of the tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor, KIT

INTERSTITIAL CELLS OF CAJAL

The gastrointestinal pacemaker cells that regulate intestinal motility and peristalsis

SECRETORY GRANULE NEUROENDOCRINE PROTEIN 1

A marker of neuronal and neuroendocrine cells; also known as the 7B2 protein

NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE I (VON RECKLINGHAUSEN DISEASE)

An autosomal dominant disease characterized by neurofibromas and by spots on the skin

PDGFRA

Platelet-derived growth factor receptor A

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buragas, M., Kidd, M., Modlin, I. et al. Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors and synchronous ileal carcinoids. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2, 166–170 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncponc0108

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncponc0108

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing