Incidental Finding of GIST During Obesity Surgery

Background The purpose of this study was to review the incidence of incidental gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) in a cohort of morbidly obese patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), analyzing surgery indication, morbidity, and follow-up data. Methods All cases with incidental GISTs found were reviewed. Results Two thousand six hundred three patients underwent obesity surgery founding a gastric GIST in eight patients (incidence 0.31 %). Mean tumor size was 7.65 mm (range 2.5-13 mm) with the majority of the lesions located in the fundus of the stomach. All lesions had negative resection margins. At a mean follow-up of 30 months, all patients were disease-free. Conclusion The long-term disease-free survival of 100 % in our study establishes laparoscopic wedge resection during RYGB and LSG as safe and effective in treating incidental gastric GISTs <2 cm.