[Intra-arterial chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) for unresectable pancreatic cancer].
OBJECTIVE
Most patients with pancreatic cancer are unresectable because of local invasion and liver metastasis at the time of diagnosis. To date, no treatment has had a significant impact on this disease. To deliver a high concentration of drug to the cancer, intra-arterial chemotherapy with GEM was performed in two patients with unresectable advanced cancer.


METHODS
One patient, a 70-year-old man with liver metastasis, was treated with arterial infusion of GEM 1,000 mg/body. Another patient, a 55-year-old woman with local invasion and distant metastatic lymphadenopathy, was given intra-arterial infusion of GEM 400 mg and intra-venous infusion of GEM 1,000 mg/body. The patients were given GEM weekly for 3 weeks followed by a week of rest.


RESULTS
In the first patient, the pain went away and CEA was decreased for 6 months. After that, the patient died due to intra-abdominal dissemination within 4 months. In the other patient, the pain went away. Tumor markers, such as CEA and CA19-9, were normalized and primary pancreatic cancer was reduced locally. The patient currently has a metastatic liver tumor, but she has had a significant improvement in performance status.


CONCLUSIONS
Intra-arterial chemotherapy with GEM may be tolerated in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.
Horiuchi
Hiroyuki
H
Dept. of Surgery, Kurume School of Medicine.
Ishikawa
Hiroto
H
Hiraki
Mamoru
M
Uchida
Shinji
S
Yasunaga
Masafumi
M
Ohdo
Masaharu
M
Tamae
Tsuyoshi
T
Fukuda
Shuichi
S
Hara
Masao
M
Okuda
Kohji
K
Kinoshita
Hisafumi
H
Aoyagi
Shigeaki
S
Shirouzu
Kazuo
K
Koganemaru
Masamichi
M
D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000093542:Gemcitabine
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000093542:Gemcitabine