A large esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor that was successfully resected after neoadjuvant imatinib treatment: case report

A 49-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a 1-month history of dysphagia. An upper endoscopy revealed a lower esophageal submucosal tumor. Immunohistochemical staining of the biopsy specimen revealed KIT positivity. Thus, the tumor was diagnosed as a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). After 6 months of imatinib treatment, the tumor decreased from 92 mm × 55 mm × 80 mm to 65 mm × 35 mm × 55 mm in diameter, and surgery was performed. The tumor was completely resected without rupture, by partial esophagogastric resection through a thoracotomy incision, using an abdominal laparoscopic approach. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the tumor was negative for c-kit but positive for CD34. Genetic examination showed that the tumor had a mutation in exon 11. The patient experienced minor leakage but recovered conservatively. Adjuvant imatinib was initiated 64 days after surgery. We report this rare case to show the potential of preoperative imatinib treatment in patients with large esophageal GISTs, to achieve complete resection without rupture.