Initial miss but caught early! Gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) commonly occur in the stomach and small intestine, are great mimickers of benign as well as malignant conditions, and can lead to diagnostic dilemma. A misdiagnosis of a malignant tumor directly affects the prognosis of a patient. We present the case of a 32-year-old male with symptoms of acid peptic disease who underwent a diagnostic upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy and was diagnosed to have a gastric ulcer without a biopsy. As his symptoms persisted along with melena, he visited our center and was found to be severely anemic and tachycardic. A repeat UGI endoscopy revealed a gastric tumor that was resected and reported to be GIST. The deceptive looks of a benign gastric ulcer and deferring a biopsy at the first UGI endoscopy delayed the diagnosis in this patient which is definitely an error. The case illustrates that one should consider a differential diagnosis of GIST in ulcerative and bleeding gastric lesions.