Open AccessA successful treatment by hepatic arterial infusion therapy for advanced, unresectable biliary tract cancer
Author(s) -
Masako Nishimura
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
world journal of hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 55
ISSN - 1948-5182
DOI - 10.4254/wjh.v2.i5.192
Subject(s) - medicine , gemcitabine , cisplatin , intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma , gallbladder cancer , biliary tract cancer , hepatic arterial infusion , chemotherapy , biliary tract , gallbladder , gastroenterology , oncology , floxuridine , liver cancer , lymph , cancer , metastasis , pathology , fluorouracil
Biliary tract cancers (BTC) are relatively rare tumors, and the prognosis is extremely poor. There has been no standard chemotherapy for advanced BTC. However, recently, gemcitabine (GEM) have been used against BTC as the most active agent, and promising response rates and overall survival times with tolerable drug toxicities have been observed. In this article, two cases of advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and unresectable metastatic gallbladder (GB) cancer are reported. They were treated with hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy using a combination of GEM and cisplatin, along with the systemic administration of GEM. As a consequence, multiple liver tumors, the GB cancer and metastatic lymph nodes regressed without severe drug toxicities, and favorable results (the overall survival times were 16 and 14 mo, respectively) were achieved. In conclusion, HAI therapy using GEM combined with cisplatin may be a useful and well-tolerated option for advanced BTC, especially in cases where multiple liver metastases are detected.