A Case of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Arising in the Rectovaginal Septum

Kinya Matsumoto, Kazuya Odawara, Tsuyoshi Toyota, Hideo Watanabe and Fumiki Kushihata*

Department of Surgery, Watanabe Hospital
First Department of Surgery, Ehime University School of Medicine*

A 57-year-old woman admitted for difficult evacuation and a sense of residual urine was found in CT and MRI to have a submucosal tumor 4 cm in diameter in the anterior wall of the lower rectum arising in the rectovaginal septum, suggesting GIST and necessitating transanal excision. The tumor was 4.5×4.0×3.6 cm. HE staining showed fascicular proliferated spindle-shaped tumor cells. Immunohistochemical studies showed a GIST of the rectum (borderline to low-grade malignancy) with positive staining for c-kit and CD34, and negative staining for desmin and S-100 protein. The woman was discharged uneventfully on postoperative day 10. No evidence of recurrence has been found in the 1 year and 4 months since. Abdominoperineal resection is often conducted for rectal GIST, but if local excision should be feasible in cases such as ours when the tumor is small.

Key words
GIST, rectum, rectovaginal septum

Reprint requests
Kinya Matsumoto Department of Surgery, Watanabe Hospital
178-4 Takaoka-cho, Matsuyama, 791-8036 JAPAN

Accepted
September 28, 2005

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