Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor of the Stomach Diagnosed Preoperatively.

A case of gastrointestinal stromal tumor（GIST）of the stomach is reported. GIST has been applied to gastrointestinal submucosal tumors mainly composed of spindle shaped cells that rep‑ resent neither typical features of myogenic nor neurogenic tumors and immunohistochemical studies are necessary for the diagnosis of GIST. The patient was a 39‑year‑old man and was successfully diagnosed to be GIST（uncommitted type）preoperatively by immunohistochemical studies of biopsy specimens from an ulcerative submucosal tumor with bridging folds in the fundus approximately 3.0 cm in size. Local excision of the stomach was performed. This is the 3 rd case of GIST with a preoperative diagnosis to ap‑ pear in the literature in Japan. For gastroenterological surgeons it is critical to select the most suitable surgical procedure. In the present because the number of papers reporting GIST of the stomach i ss mallit is impos‑ sible to review GIST clinicopathologically. We reviewed the surgical procedure for gastric leio‑ myosarcomas because of including many cases with GIST in them. Therefore we performed 54 cases of gastric GIST in the literature compared with 92 cases of gastric leiomyosarcoma. As a result it was thought that local excision for gastric GIST should be preferred. （J Nippon Med Sch 2001; 68: 435―441）