Angiographic diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the angiographic feature and its diagnostic value in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). METHODS: Twelve patients with pathologically proved GIST underwent angiography using PUCK and DSA one week before operation. The origin, size, morphology and angiographic appearance of the lesion were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: It was found that two tumors originated from stomach, eight from jejunum, and two from ileum. Seven cases were benign but five malignant. Obviously thickened and enlarged feeding artery was detected in eight tumors, and early-developed vein was found in three. Two types of angiographic changes of GIST were observed: 1) twisted irregular neoplastic vessels with partially coarse and indistinct margin were found in four cases, which were all malignant; 2) ball-like neoplastic vessels with homogeneous stain in tumor were found in eight cases, seven of them were benign but one was malignant. CONCLUSION: Angiography may be helpful in localization and diagnosis as well as defining the size of GIST, and especially in patients with melena of unknown origin.