Primary malignant schwannoma of the small intestine: an unusual case

Introduction: Primary malignant schwannoma of the small bowel is an extremely rare pathology, with only 24 cases described in English language literature. We report a case of this rare occurrence with a review of the literature. Observation: The case involves a 63-year-old female patient presenting with an abdominopelvic mass. An abdominopelvic scan showed a bulky abdominopelvic mass, which appeared to originate in the uterus, with hepatic metastasis. The patient was treated by surgical excision despite the presence of a diffuse carcinoma. She died three months later. Discussion: The clinical signs of small bowel schwannoma are not obvious. Radiological examinations reveal a tumoral syndrome. Diagnosis is generally by histological analysis after laparotomy. Surgery is the basic treatment. The role of chemotherapy is not well defined as yet. Conclusion: Primary malignant schwannoma is an extremely rare pathology. The treatment is primarily surgical. Chemotherapy probably has a beneficial role to play.