Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are rare neoplasms originating from the connective tissue of the digestive tract with an incidence of less than 1%1. There is continued controversy
about their histogenesis, prognosis and treatment.Case Report: Here we report a case of 41 year old man who was admitted in a hypovolumic state with hematemesis and malena. Urgent endoscopy revealed a large tumor of the greater curve of the stomach actively spurting blood which was injected with adrenaline. A further massive rebleed led to an urgent laparotomy, involving a wedge resection of the tumor. The patient made an uneventful recovery. The pathology and immunohistochemical staining confirmed the nature of the tumor as gastrointestinal stromal tumor of intermediate malignant potential.Conclusions: Gastro intestinal stromal tumors are KIT positive spindle cell or epitheliod cell mesenchymal tumors with characteristic positivity for CD-117 and CD 34, occurring anywhere in the GI tract. Immunohistochemical analysis and the study of the c-kit gene mutation afford the best diagnostic accuracy. Both benign and malignant types are recognized and complete en bloc surgical resection when possible is the mainstay of treatment.

Keywords: gastrointestinal tumor, GIST, stromal tumor