Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Oncological Medicine
Volume 2012, Article ID 509845, 3 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/509845
Case Report
Bone Metastases from Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor:
A Case Report
Jihen Feki,
1
Racem Bouzguenda,
1
Lobna Ayedi,
2
Moez Bradi,
3
Tahia Boudawara,
2
Jamel Daoud,
4
and Mounir Frikha
1
1
Oncology Department, Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, El Ain Road, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia
2
Pathology Department, Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, El Ain Road, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia
3
Radiology Department, Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, El Ain Road, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia
4
Radiotherapy Department, Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, El Ain Road, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia
Correspondence should be addressed to Racem Bouzguenda, racem.bouzguenda@gmail.com
Received 6 October 2012; Accepted 5 November 2012
Academic Editors: S. Aksoy and C. Camps
Copyright © 2012 Jihen Feki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Their most
common metastatic sites are the liver and the peritoneum, but GISTs rarely metastasize to the bones. We report a case of a 58-year-
old man with sternoclavicular joint metastasis from a GIST manifesting 28 months after surgical resection of the small intestine
tumor. We will discuss through this paper and a literature review the clinical characteristics, imaging features, and management of
this unusual metastatic location of GIST.
1. Introduction
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most com-
mon mesenchymatous tumors of the gastrointestinal tract
[1]. They most commonly occur at the age of over 50 years
[2]. In our oncology center of Sfax, we diagnosed thirty
cases of GISTs between 2000 and 2010. The most frequent
anatomic location of GIST is the stomach (60%) and the
small intestine (30%). Five to ten percent of GISTs arise
from the colon and rectum, less than 1% are located in the
esophagus, and it can originate beyond the gastrointestinal
tract in the omentum, mesentery or retroperitoneum [3].
Their most common metastatic sites are the liver and the
peritoneum, but GISTs rarely metastasize to the bones. We
will discuss through this paper and a literature review the
clinical characteristic, imaging features, and management of
this unusual metastatic location of GIST.
2. Case Report
A 58-year-old man had undergone surgical removal of a
small intestine tumor in January 2008. Histological exami-
nation showed a gastrointestinal stromal tumor with a 16 cm
primary tumor in the jejunum. Immunohistochemistry
revealed spindle cells positive for CD117 and CD34. Mitotic
activity was low. No adjuvant treatment was available at
that time. The patient was clinically stable and followed by
serial imaging until May 2010, when he presented a painful
sternoclavicular joint tumefaction. The thoracoabdominal
CT scan revealed an osteolytic sternoclavicular joint mass
(Figure 1) and 3 liver metastases. Bone scintigraphy showed
an increasing intensity of tracer uptake localized in the
sternoclavicular joint (Figure 3). The patient underwent
a biopsy of the sternoclavicular joint mass. Immunohis-
tochemical staining demonstrated the tumor cells to be
positive for c-kit (CD117) (Figure 5) protein and CD34
protein. The histological features and staining pattern of the
tumor cells were consistent with a GIST metastasis (Figures
4 and 5). Our patient received radiation therapy at the
sternoclavicular joint with a total dose of 30 grays. Afterward
he began treatment with oral imatinib mesylate at a dose of
400 mg/day. The clinical response was good and the patient’s
pain resolved. Control contrast-enhanced CT scans showed
a partial response in bone lesion (Figure 2) as well as in liver
metastases.
After 19 months, the patient complained of weakness
of lower limbs. Our patient refused vertebromedullary