Small bud of probable gastrointestinal stromal tumor within a laparoscopically-resected gastric schwannoma.

Submucosal tumors (SMTs) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract can be potentially difficulty to diagnose pathologically. We report a case of a gastric SMT that was resected by laparoscopic partial gastrectomy. Although the initial histological and immunohistochemical examinations considered the tumor as a schwannoma, mRNA-based KIT genotyping indicated that the tumor included cells with KIT gene expression, and that a small number of cells carried a deletion mutation in exon 11. Additional histopathological investigations revealed small aggregates of enlarged spindle to epithelioid cells, which were positive for KIT, CD34 and DOG1, and negative for S-100, scattered among the S-100-positive schwannoma cells. We consider that the cells carrying the KIT gene mutation are microscopic buds of a gastrointestinal stroma tumor (GIST), and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of probable GIST tissues identified in a schwannoma. Our observations raised the significance of genotyping for diagnosis of GI tract SMTs.