Coexistence of papillary renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor in a case.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors are rare causes of gastrointestinal bleeding. In most cases, these tumors are localized in the stomach and small intestine, more rarely in the esophagus and colon. Papillary renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor may occur as recurrent familial tumors related to mutations in the protooncogenes, c-MET and c-KIT, both of which are tyrosine kinase receptor molecules. However, these two tumors can sometimes occur simultaneously in sporadic cases. Some authors blame imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), which is traditionally used in gastrointestinal stromal tumor therapy, as the etiological factor in certain secondary tumors, especially papillary renal cell cancer. In this paper, we present the appearance and growth of papillary renal cell carcinoma in a patient receiving Gleevec therapy for gastrointestinal stromal tumor.