Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the small intestine with intussusception in a child: case report and literature review

Abstract Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare but benign entity masquerading as a malignant tumor. We herein report an 18-month-old boy with small bowel wall IMT who presented with intussusception. He was transferred to our hospital with a complaint of abdominal pain and diagnosed with intussusception. On laparotomy, the small bowel wall mass consisted of solid tissue measuring 2.5×3.0 cm. The postoperative pathology examination revealed numerous spindle cells arranged in dense bundles with diffuse infiltration of inflammatory cells and tumor involvement of the mucosa and serosa. As the postoperative pathology examination resulted in a diagnosis of IMT and suspected partial resection, small bowel resection and mesenteric lymph node resection were performed two months after the first operation. A pathology examination after the second surgery revealed no evidence of residual IMT and negative findings for metastasis in the regional lymph nodes. IMT is a locally aggressive lesion. The immunophenotypic feature of ALK-1 in particular is associated with a high recurrence rate. Long-term follow-up is absolutely needed.