Case Report

Preoperative diagnosis of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding due to a GIST of the jejunum: a case report

Stavros Gourgiotis^1,4 , Dimitrios Kotoulas^1,5 , Stavros Aloizos^2,6,7 , Aikaterini Kolovou^3,7 , Nikolaos S Salemis^1,8 and Ioannis Kantounakis^3,9

¹  Second Surgical Department, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Greece

²  Intensive Care Unit, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Greece

³  Radiology Department, 401 General Army Hospital of Athens, Greece

⁴  41 Zakinthinou Street, 15669, Papagou, Athens, Greece

⁵  37 Alexandroupoleos Street, 12135, Peristeri, Athens, Greece

⁶  14 Acheon Street, 15343, Ag. Paraskevi, Athens, Greece

⁷  24 Mykinon Street, Dafni, Athens, Greece

⁸  19 Taxiarhon Street, 19014 Kapandriti, Athens, Greece

⁹  1 Thalias Street, Alimos, Athens, Greece

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Cases Journal 2009, 2:9088doi:10.1186/1757-1626-2-9088

Published:	25 November 2009

Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) are rare mesenchymal neoplasms affecting the digestive tract or nearby structures within the abdomen. We present a case of a 66-year-old female patient who presented with obscure anemia due to gastrointestinal bleeding and underwent exploratory laparotomy during which a large GIST of the small intestine was discovered. Examining the preoperative results of video capsule endoscopy, computed tomography, and angiography and comparing them with the operative findings we discuss which of these investigations plays the most important role in the detection and localization of GIST. A sort review of the literature is also conducted on these rare mesenchymal tumours.