A rare cause of severe dyspareunia: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) of the rectum are rare, and their clinical manifestations are variable. We report the case of a 23-year-old woman who was referred complaining of dyspareunia during coitus. We performed digital vaginal and rectal investigations, ultrasound, colonoscopy, and computed tomography. These examinations confirmed the presence of a lesion measuring about 6 × 5 × 5 cm in size attached to the posterolateral left rectum wall. We performed a circumanal excision, then arrived at the mass between the muscles of the pelvic floor. Pathological studies indicated that the tumor was a high-grade GIST, and was clear at the surgical margins. On follow-up, a GIST was found at the gastric fundus via an endoscopic biopsy. Imatinib treatment was initiated because the patient refused a second operation. The gastric lesion disappeared 6 months after imatinib treatment. Dyspareunia disappeared 1 month after operation.

Mutational spectrum and therapy response of metastasized GIST in Central Switzerland – A population-based study

“…Until now only a few cases of GIST in the rectovaginal septum have been described in the English literature (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). In all these reports, similarly to our case, this localization seems to be associated with a favourable prognosis.…”

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor presenting as a rectovaginal mass. Clinicopathologic and molecular-genetic characterization of a rare tumor with a literature review

“…Including the current case, a total of 13 GISTs presenting as pelvic rectovaginal or vaginal mass have been reported [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The clinicopathologic features of the 13 cases are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…In the largest series published to date, only 9k of patients were younger than 40 years [3]. Although GISTs may show quite varied gross presentation occasionally mimicking diverse extra-GI diseases (so-called EGIST), those presenting as a pelvic rectovaginal mass are rare with approximately 12 cases reported to date [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. GISTs presenting as rectovaginal masses may cause diagnostic problems and most have been initially misdiagnosed as a gynecologic tumor.…”

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors arising in the perianal and perineal region: Two case reports and literature review

“…CD117 and CD34 for GIST are generally positive in immunohistochemical examination, which is of great significance for diagnosis. To further understand the diagnosis and treatment, we searched for the associated cases in the past 15 years in Pubmed and summarized 8 articles [ [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ] about the clinicopathology of GISTs occurring in the perianal and perineal region ( Table 1 ).…”

“…Akbulut S reported a case of a patient with a rectal GIST who complained of dyspareunia rarely. It indicates that the clinical manifestations of tumors are unpredictable [ 15 ]. Seven patients were treated with imatinib postoperatively.…”