CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
This article is part of the Research TopicRising Stars in Gastroenterology: 2024/25View all 3 articles
A Case of Meckel's Diverticulum Misdiagnosed as Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor: Case Report and Literature Review
Provisionally accepted
- Jilin University, Changchun, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is a common congenital gastrointestinal malformation often containing ectopic gastric mucosa. It is prone to ulceration and painless lower gastrointestinal bleeding, predominantly affecting children and adolescents. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), which arise from Cajal interstitial cells, are predominantly mesenchymal tumors that occur predominantly in middle-aged and elderly individuals. Both conditions may occur in the small intestine, presenting gastrointestinal bleeding and exhibiting overlapping imaging features, which pose challenges for clinical differentiation. This report describes a 17-year-old female patient admitted to the First Hospital of Jilin University with intermittent melena, abdominal pain, and anemia. Small bowel CT imaging (CTE) revealed a nodular lesion measuring approximately 0.9 × 1.8 cm within the ileal lumen. The lesion exhibited a broad base attached to the intestinal wall and showed marked homogeneous enhancement, strongly suggesting a GIST. Previous gastrointestinal endoscopy had only indicated chronic gastritis and colitis. The patient underwent laparoscopic segmental resection of the ileal mass. Postoperative pathology confirmed an MD with fundic gland-type ectopia. This case highlights the diagnostic challenges of complex MD and underscores the critical role of histopathology. It thereby provides diagnostic and surgical guidance for MD cases that mimic GIST on imaging, thereby reducing misdiagnosis.
Keywords: Meckel's diverticulum, Ectopic gastric mucosa, Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, laparoscopic surgery, case report
Received: 25 Nov 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Huang, Tang, Ye, Wang and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wei Wei
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.