Park YE. Gastric Crohn’s disease presenting as a subepithelial tumor: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(33): 113312 [PMID: 41356089 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i33.113312]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yong Eun Park, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Yeungnam University, 170 Hyeonchung-ro, Nam-gu, Daegu 42415, South Korea. dragonispark@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Nov 26, 2025 (publication date) through Jan 9, 2026
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Publication Name
World Journal of Clinical Cases
ISSN
2307-8960
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Park YE. Gastric Crohn’s disease presenting as a subepithelial tumor: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(33): 113312 [PMID: 41356089 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i33.113312]
World J Clin Cases. Nov 26, 2025; 13(33): 113312 Published online Nov 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i33.113312
Gastric Crohn’s disease presenting as a subepithelial tumor: A case report
Yong Eun Park
Yong Eun Park, Department of Surgery, Yeungnam University, Daegu 42415, South Korea
Author contributions: Park YE contributed to writing, data collection, data analysis, literature review.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yong Eun Park, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Yeungnam University, 170 Hyeonchung-ro, Nam-gu, Daegu 42415, South Korea. dragonispark@gmail.com
Received: August 22, 2025 Revised: September 12, 2025 Accepted: November 4, 2025 Published online: November 26, 2025 Processing time: 91 Days and 22.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Submucosal tumors arise from the subepithelial layer anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, most commonly in the stomach. A wide range of lesions, from benign to malignant, may present as gastric submucosal tumors. However, the gastric involvement of Crohn’s disease (CD) is generally not considered in the differential diagnosis of such lesions.
CASE SUMMARY
A 23-year-old male patient presented with a gastric subepithelial tumor. The medical history included CD. Diagnostic workup revealed a 3-cm mucosal lesion with a central ulceration on the posterior wall of the distal antrum. The patient underwent laparoscopic wedge resection of stomach, and the postoperative course was uneventful. Histopathological analysis confirmed a diagnosis of gastric CD presenting as a subepithelial tumor.
CONCLUSION
Despite its rarity, upper gastrointestinal CD can present as a gastric subepithelial tumor, warranting consideration in young patients with CD.
Core Tip: Given the increasing incidence of Crohn’s disease (CD) and its decreasing age of onset, upper gastrointestinal involvement is expected to become more frequent. Although gastric CD typically presents as gastritis, erosions, atypical ulcers, a cobblestone appearance of the mucosa, or strictures, it can (albeit rarely) manifest as a subepithelial tumor, as demonstrated in this case. Therefore, when a gastric subepithelial lesion is detected-particularly in young patients with CD-endoscopic ultrasonography and histological assessment are essential to distinguish upper gastrointestinal involvement of CD from other etiologies.
