title: Mitomycin-based hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for solitary ampullary cancer liver metastasis: an unusual treatment for an uncommon disease.
abstract: Ampullary carcinoma is an uncommon gastrointestinal disease. Its natural history is often characterized by the occurrence of liver metastases. Among patients who undergo pancreatoduodenectomy, those presenting with lymph nodes involvement are more prone to early distant disease relapse. In this report, a patient previously diagnosed with ampullary carcinoma had been treated with curative surgery. After subsequent adjuvant gemcitabine, the patient developed significant myelotoxicity and suffered from a single liver metastasis a few months later. A hepatic intra-arterial mitomycin plus fluorouracil-based chemotherapy was administered in order to avoid any serious systemic toxicity. The treatment was well tolerated and no serious side effects occurred. Extra-hepatic cancer relapse, involving intra-thoracic and abdominal lymph nodes, was observed not long after the initial intra-hepatic almost complete response. In conclusion, the locoregional chemotherapy administration was effective in overcoming any systemic toxicities and showed activity against the liver metastasis but it did not prevent extra-hepatic cancer dissemination.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy f.vitale@videobank.it.
authors.forename: Felice V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.affiliation: Division of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy.
authors.forename: Placido
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.affiliation: Division of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Luciani
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raffaele
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colina
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, San Vincenzo Hospital, Taormina, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferraù
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014670:Ampulla of Vater / Q000473:pathology; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003138:Common Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006499:Hepatic Artery; D006801:Humans; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D016685:Mitomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D016685:Mitomycin
keywords: Mitomycin; ampullary carcinoma; hepatic intra-arterial chemotherapy; liver metastases