Resection of the Duodenum for Extensive Leiomyosarcoma

Since leiomyosarcoma of the duodenum was first reported by Von Salis1in 1920, there have been 61 cases recorded. Weinstein and Roberts,2in reviewing the literature to 1953, summarized 28 cases known at that time. They noted that 21 patients were reported as having died. Weinstein and Roberts did not attribute this high mortality to the malignant nature of the tumor, but rather to its location in the duodenum which made resection difficult. Leiomyosarcoma is an uncommon tumor found in the duodenum. As Iovine and Tsangaris3have noted, 602 cases of adenocarcinoma of the duodenum had been reported through 1960, and only 61 cases of leiomyosarcoma were mentioned. Therefore carcinoma of the duodenum occurs approximately ten times more frequently than leiomyosarcoma. Starr and Dockerty,4in reporting on 76 leiomyosarcomas and leiomyomas of the small bowel, found that 41 of these lesions were malignant. Of the 16