Gastric subepithelial masses
What are the causes of gastric subepithelial masses?
Gastric subepithelial masses are most commonly GIST.
Gastric lipomas are a rare cause of gastric subepithelial masses, accounting for <1% of gastric intramural lesions.
What are the clinical features of gastric subepithelial masses?
They are mostly diagnosed incidentally at endoscopy
Discuss the diagnostic approach to gastric subepithelial masses?
- It is difficult to differentiate an intramural lesion from extramural compression with endoscopy alone.
- On endoscopy, lipomas have a yellow hue and often exhibit a pillow sign when probed with closed biopsy forceps, and may also exhibit some mobility. A recent study showed that the pillow sign (indents when depressed using biopsy forceps) had 98% specificity but only 40% sensitivity in identifying lipomas.
- Once a gastric subepithelial lesion is seen, an EUS is needed to define it further. A CT scan may also help to differentiate whether the lesion is intramural or extramural.
