Differentiation of gastric glomus tumor from small gastric stromal tumor by computed tomography

Abstract

Objective This study was performed to investigate the value of computed tomography (CT) in the differentiation of gastric glomus tumors (GGTs) and small gastric stromal tumors (GSTs). Methods Fifty-nine patients with pathologically confirmed GGTs (n = 11) and GSTs (n = 48) from 2006 to 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. All patients’ preoperative CT imaging features were analyzed. Results The following features were significantly different between GGTs and small GSTs: location in the antrum, endophytic growth, heterogeneous enhancement in the arterial phase, CT value in the arterial phase of ≥60.7 Hounsfield units (HU), CT value in the portal phase of ≥87.6 HU, degree of enhancement in the arterial phase of ≥29.9 HU, and degree of enhancement in the portal phase of ≥49.0 HU. A model including four randomly selected features among these seven criteria was built to differentiate GGTs from small GSTs with a sensitivity and specificity of 90.9% (10/11) and 100% (48/48), respectively. Conclusion We identified seven features that are useful for differentiating GGTs from small GSTs. A combination of four of these seven criteria may increase the diagnostic accuracy.