Intra-cranial metastasis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor

Abstract

With the evolution of immunochemical staining techniques and better imaging modalities with better image resolution and whole body coverage, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), the most common mesenchymal tumor of the gastrointestinal tract, is often encountered in clinical practice. Metastasis is common with malignant GIST and can be found in up to 50% of patients at presentation. Liver and peritoneum are the two most common sites of metastasis and accounted for 95% of cases. Lymphatics, bone and lung metastasis are rare. Malignant GIST with intracranial metastasis is even rarer, with only a few cases reported in the literature, and most of these had earlier metastasis elsewhere. Radiological features for GISTs are not specific but it does contribute to confirming early and accurate diagnosis of malignant GISTs by judging the tumor size, enhancement pattern and the invasion of adjacent structures. We report a case of a 26-year-old male with metastatic GIST to the liver and subsequently to the brain and skull vault. This is the first case reported in our locality and he is the youngest patient reported with this disease entity. The clinical progress, radiological features and the role of imaging will be discussed further in this paper. The radiological and clinical features of the primary tumor will specifically be addressed. The purpose of this paper is to enrich the current database of this rare disease entity and to alert both radiologists and clinicians about the imaging features of GIST with intracranial metastasis.