spindle cell tumor differential diagnosis：Differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor by ...

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumor of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. They can develop anywhere in the GI tract from the esophagus to the rectum. Approximately 60% of them arise in the stomach and approximately 30% in the small intestine. Duodenal and rectal GISTs account for about 5% each among whole GIST cases, and esophageal GISTs are rarer and colonic GISTs are extremely unusual. GISTs are considered to be derived from interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs), which are spindle-shaped mesenchymal cells (1). Thus, GISTs are also typically composed of spindle cells. However, a minor proportion (10–15%) of them have epithelioid feature, and some tumors show mixed cell type. Histological diagnosis of GISTs should be considered according to the histological tumor cell type. For spindle cell type GISTs (Figure 1[1]), spindle cell tumors such as desmoids, solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs), inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IM...