Thoracoscopic enucleation for small-sized gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the esophagus: report of two cases

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) rarely occur in the esophagus. Surgical approaches for such tumors have not been established, since the standard wedge or segmental resection that is used for intra-abdominal GIST is not possible in the esophagus. We report two cases of small esophageal GIST in which thoracoscopic enucleation was performed. Both patients underwent the thoracoscopic surgery using four trocars. The tumor size was 43 and 32 mm in patients 1 and 2, respectively. The operating time was 240 and 238 min. The final diagnosis was as low-risk GIST in both patients. Postoperative course was uneventful and both patients have been disease-free at a follow-up of 40 and 32 months. Considering the special case of the esophagus and the very good prognosis of low-risk tumors, enucleation under the thoracoscopic technique may be feasible for small-sized esophageal GIST as a minimally invasive surgery. We also review the literature in this report.