Laparoscopic management of gastric liposarcoma: A case report and review of the literature

Laparoscopic management of a gastric liposarcoma with malignant transformation from a gastric lipoma: A rare case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Liposarcoma is one of the most common mesenchymal neoplasms in adults. Among liposarcomas, gastrointestinal tract involvement is uncommon, and liposarcoma of the stomach is a particularly rare entity, In addition, few cases of gastric liposarcoma with malignant transformation from benign gastric lipoma have been reported.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

Here we present the case of a 62-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with gastric liposarcoma and managed with laparoscopic surgical resection. He was first diagnosed with subepithelial lipoma of the stomach 4 years ago and was under observation, but underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy due to malignant transformation of gastric lipoma. He has been following up for 1 year after surgery, and there are no recurrence or other complications to date.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

This patient was initially diagnosed with gastric lipoma and was surgically resected after 4 years of observation to show malignant transformation. To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the first report of gastric lipoma demonstrating malignant transformation into gastric liposarcoma.

CONCLUSION

Gastric lipoma can be transformed into gastric liposarcoma, so if the size is large or the rate of size change is fast, surgical resection is recommended in the early state, and en-bloc resection including node dissection and reconstruction are desirable during surgery.

Primary gastric dedifferentiated liposarcoma resected endoscopically: A case report

BACKGROUND

Liposarcoma is one of the most common adult mesenchymal tumors but is uncommon in the gastrointestinal tract and extremely rare in the stomach. Furthermore, the histological subtypes of liposarcoma usually reported in the stomach are well-differentiated or myxoid, and few reports have been issued on small-sized gastric liposarcomas resected endoscopically and followed up. Herein, we report a case of primary gastric dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DL) that was resected endoscopically.

CASE SUMMARY

A 67-year-old female Korean patient was referred to our institution for further evaluation of a gastric submucosal tumor (SMT) located in the lesser curvature of the gastric body by esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Endoscopic ultrasound revealed a well-circumscribed, slightly heterogeneous, isoechoic, 17 mm × 10 mm sized mass originating from the third sonographic layer. Computed tomography showed no evidence of significant lymph node enlargement or distant metastasis. Endoscopic resection was undertaken using the snare resection technique after mucosal precutting to provide a definitive histopathologic diagnosis, which proved to be consistent with DL, based on its morphology and the immunoexpressions of MDM2 and CDK4. The patient was planned for surgery because the deep resection margin was positive for malignancy. After declining any invasive procedure or adjuvant treatment, the patient was placed under close follow-up, and at one year after endoscopic resection, remained disease free.

CONCLUSION

This is the first reported case of a small primary gastric DL resected endoscopically and followed up. This report demonstrates that when diagnosis of a SMT is uncertain, the use of invasive techniques, including endoscopic resection, should be considered.

[Primary liposarcomas of the digestive tract: Diversity of clinicopathological presentations and diagnostic challenges]

Sarcomas are rare tumours that represent less than 1% of all malignant tumours in adults. Liposarcomas are among the most common malignant mesenchymal tumours. They are preferentially located in the limbs and the retroperitoneum. Liposarcomas primarily arising in the digestive tract are exceptional with a few cases reported in the literature. Their clinical presentation is variable and the symptoms are not specific. Anatomopathological examination remains the gold standard for the diagnosis and the classification of these tumours, which are divided into 5 histological types according to the 5th edition of the WHO classification of soft tissue tumours. We report two observations of unusual digestive liposarcomas, located in the oesophagus and the colon, emphasizing the variability of the diagnostic challenges, depending on the clinical presentation, the histological type and the analysed material.