Abstract
We report a case of malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the stomach with dissemination respondingto postoperative administration of imatinib mesylate and enabling survival without recurrence for21 months. A 49-year-old woman hospitalized for upper abdominal pain was found in abdominal CT to have aprotruding tumor about 10cm in diameter at the lumen of the gastric body. During surgery done after the tumorwas diagnosed as of gastric origin, multiple disseminated tumors were detected in the bilateral diaphragmand abdominal wall. The main gastric tumor was resected by partial gastrectomy and all disseminatedtumors resected where possible. Histopathologically, the main and disseminated tumors consisted ofspindle cells with oval nuclei. The tumor was diagnosed as uncommitted malignant GIST. Although the firstchoice for treating GIST is surgery, imatinib mesylate may be effectively administered as neoadjvant chemotherapypostoperatively and in recurrent cases.
