Gastric Schwannoma mimicking gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a rare case with review of literature

ABSTRACT

Gastric schwannoma (GS) is a rare neoplasm of the stomach. It accounts for 0.2% of all gastric tumors and is mostly benign, slow-growing, and asymptomatic. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumors and up to 60-70% of GIST occur in the stomach. Schwannoma and GIST have similar radiological and endoscopic features making it extremely difficult to differentiate them preoperatively. Differential diagnosis of these two submucosal tumors is important because of the malignant potential of GIST and the relatively benign course of gastric schwannomas. This case stresses on the importance of including gastric schwannomas in the differential diagnosis of a submucosal gastric mass as it has the ability to mimic a gastrointestinal stromal tumor, which is a leading differential diagnosis because of its common occurrence at this site.