AccScience Publishing / IMO / Volume 2 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/imo.7068
CASE REPORT

Rare subdural hematoma in a patient treated with avapritinib for gastrointestinal stromal tumor: A case report

Syed M. Imam1 Faryal Haider2 Rafiq J. Baksh3 Syed A. A. Rizvi4,5*
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1 HCA Northside Hospital, USF Morsani College of Medicine, St Petersburg, Florida, United States of America
2 The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America
3 Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
4 College of Biomedical Sciences, Larkin University, Miami, Florida, United States of America
5 Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Larkin Community Hospital, Miami, Florida, United States of America
IMO 2025, 2(1), 93–97; https://doi.org/10.36922/imo.7068
Submitted: 8 October 2024 | Revised: 5 December 2024 | Accepted: 20 December 2024 | Published: 9 January 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal malignancy of the digestive tract, accounting for 1% of all digestive tract malignancies. GISTs occur most frequently in the stomach, followed by the small intestine and colorectum, and rarely in the mesentery, omentum, and retroperitoneum. Avapritinib’s approval for GISTs in 2020 marks a milestone in precision oncology, showing its significant antitumor activity against the resistant platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha D842V mutation. It has a manageable safety profile, with dose adjustments for mitigating side effects without reducing efficacy. Avapritinib-induced subdural hematomas are rare but potentially lethal complications. Our patient had a metastatic small bowel GIST and liver metastases and began avapritinib treatment in January 2024. He had a stable condition until early May. He presented with acute encephalopathy, altered mentation, and left subdural hematoma, which was suspected to be caused by avapritinib, resulting in its discontinuation. Despite receiving diligent care, the patient’s condition did not improve, and he eventually died.

Keywords
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors
Chemotherapeutics
Novel targets
Side effects
Subdural hematomas
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
Syed A. A. Rizvi is an Editorial Board Member of this journal but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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