Pancreatic Malignant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor: a Case Report

Excerpt

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are rare mesenchymal tumors that express the c-KIT (CD117) protein [1]. They commonly arise from the stomach or the small bowel. Rarely, they can arise from the colon, rectum, esophagus, and appendix. Extra-GISTs, which arise from outside the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but histologically and immunophenotypically resemble the GI counterparts, are reported in the omentum, mesentery, and the retroperitoneum [1, 2]. Pancreatic GIST is rare, and frequently reported in the literature in recent days [2]. They can sometimes mimic the more frequent entity of pancreas such as solid-pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) or neuroendocrine tumor (NET) [1]. Here, we report an interesting case of an unusually large, malignant pancreatic GIST, where an aggressive surgical resection was potentially curative. …