Two Cases of Smooth Muscle Tumor of the Stomach of Which Doubling Time Could be Measured from the Progress of Growth

Hidetaka Shigeta, Tatsuo Hattori, Shinji Fukata, Yoichiro Kobayashi, Kanji Miyata, Norihiro Yuasa, Yasutomo Goto, Nozomi Hamahata, Keitaro Kamei, Yasuhiro Kurumiya, Yuji Hayashi, Yasuhiro Koide, Junji Washizu

Department of Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Nagoya First Hospital

We report two cases of smooth muscle tumor of the stomach in which growth was monitored and doubling time could be measured from upper gastrointestinal X-ray finding. In case 1, a 56-year-old man, a tumor was detected on the cardia by an upper gastrointestinal series. Partial resection of the stomach was performed three years later. Histopathological examination revealed a smooth muscle tumor of underterminate malignant potential (STUMP) with a doubling time of 4.5 months. In case 2, a 43-year-old woman, a tumor on the upper segment of the stomach was detected by an upper gastrointestinal series, and partial resection was performed about 20 months after the initial discovery. Histopathological examination revealed a STUMP with a doubling time of 25.4 months. The DNA pattern was diploid in both cases. It is often difficult to determine histopathologically whether smooth muscle tumor is benign or malignant, but some reports have shown that the growth rate, that is, the doubling time of the tumor, is a useful index for determining its biological malignancy, We conclude that case 1 should be considered a leiomyosarcoma and case 2 a leiomyoma from the clinical aspect.

Key words
leiomyoma, smooth muscle tumor of stomach, doubling time

Reprint requests
Hidetaka Shigeta Department of Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Nagoya First Hospital
3-35 Michishitacho, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, 453 JAPAN

Accepted
June 14, 1995

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