Review
Copyright ©2007 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2007; 13(24): 3311-3315
Published online Jun 28, 2007. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v13.i24.3311
Classification of submucosal tumors in the gastrointestinal tract
Laura Graves Ponsaing, Katalin Kiss, Mark Berner Hansen
Laura Graves Ponsaing, Mark Berner Hansen, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology K, Bispebjerg University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark
Katalin Kiss, Department of Pathology, Herlev University Hospital Gentofte, Denmark
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Laura Graves Ponsaing, MD, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology K, Bispebjerg University Hospital of Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, 2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. laura@graves-ponsaing.dk
Telephone: +45-28-775376
Received: February 2, 2007
Revised: March 3, 2007
Accepted: March 8, 2007
Published online: June 28, 2007
Abstract

This review is part two of three, which will present an update on the classification of gastrointestinal submucosal tumors. Part one treats of the diagnosis and part three of the therapeutic methods regarding gastrointestinal submucosal tumors. In the past there has been some confusion as to the classification of gastrointestinal submucosal tumors. Changes in classifications have emerged due to recent advances in mainly immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. The aim of this paper is to update the reader on the current classification. Literature searches were performed to find information related to classification of gastrointestinal submucosal tumors. Based on these searches the twelve most frequent submucosal tumor types were chosen for description of their classification. The factors that indicate whether tumors are benign or malignant are mainly size and number of mitotic counts. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors are defined mainly by their CD117 positivity. In the future, there should be no more confusion between gastrointestinal stromal tumors and other types of submucosal tumors.

Keywords: Submucosal tumor; Immunohistochemistry; Smooth muscle derived submucosal tumors; Submucosal tumors of neurogenic origin; Gastrointestinal stromal tumor; Malignant; Benign