Ruptured Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor in a 12-Year-Old Child: A Case Report

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare mesenchymal neoplasms, especially in pediatric patients, often presenting with distinct clinical and molecular characteristics. This case report describes a 12-year-old girl with a large gastric GIST complicated by tumor rupture and hemoperitoneum. Initial treatment with imatinib was followed by emergent surgical intervention due to tumor bleeding. Histopathology confirmed an epithelioid-type GIST, necessitating continued imatinib therapy. Pediatric GISTs demonstrate an indolent but unpredictable course, requiring a multidisciplinary approach. Despite their aggressive nature, pediatric cases show better survival outcomes than adults. This case underscores the importance of timely intervention, individualized therapy, and long-term follow-up to improve prognosis in children with GISTs.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Cureus

• Publication date

  2025-09-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.7759/cureus.93353PMID 41158893PMCID 12558428
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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