Intraperitoneal bleeding and haemorrhagic shock caused by ruptured stomach GIST.

Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumours of the gastrointestinal tract. They arise most commonly in the stomach (60–70%) and small intestine (20–25%), while other sites of origin are rare [1, 2]. In many cases, they are diagnosed accidentally due to their indolent clinical course; however, 10–30% of these have malignant potential [2–4]. Symptoms depend mostly on tumour localization and size. Around 70% of tumours present with abdominal pain, and 20–50% present with gastro-intestinal bleeding, which is predominantly intraluminal