Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the transverse colon with synchronous gastrointestinal stromal tumor in a patient with ulcerative colitis: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare proliferative disease of uncertain etiology, characterized by the proliferation of fusate or epithelioid myofibroblasts admixed with predominantly mononuclear inflammatory cells. IMT is generally considered a benign lesion, although in some cases this neoplasm has shown an aggressive behavior in terms of local recurrence and metastasis. We report the case of a patient with a ten-year history of ulcerative colitis affected by IMT of the transverse colon and by synchronous gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of stomach. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 59-year-old woman with a ten-year history of ulcerative colitis has been admitted to our hospital with signs and symptoms of acute recurrence of ulcerative colitis: abdominal pain, diarrhea, hematochezia and rectal tenesmus. Colonoscopy showed a left colon with diffuse hyperemia, mucosal erosions and a 2-cm, irregularly shaped, polypoid lesion at the level of the transverse colon. Histopathological examination of the specimen obtained via biopsy of the polypoid lesion has revealed a mesenchymal neoplasm with uncertain characters of malignancy. Due to the severity of the inflammatory bowel disease resistant to immunosuppressive and steroid drug treatment, surgical indication was given. DISCUSSION: Although the relationship between IMT and Crohn’s disease has been widely reported in literature, the relationship between IMT and ulcerative colitis has never been previously described. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of IMT associated with ulcerative colitis reported in literature and the synchronous association with a gastric GIST represents another primacy.