A Case Report of an Unresectable Gall Bladder Cancer which Showed Great Response by Gemcitabine

Kiyokazu Hiwatashi, Hiroyuki Shinchi, Kose Maemura, Yoshihisa Umekita¹⁾, Fumitake Kubo, Masahiko Sakoda, Shinichi Ueno, Mario Shimada, Sonshin Takao²⁾ and Takashi Aikou

Department of Surgical Oncology and Digestive Surgery, Department Tumor Pathology¹⁾ and Frontier Science Research Center Section of Frontier Medicine²⁾, Kagoshima University School of Medicine

A 63-year-old woman diagnosed with gall bladder cancer and liver invasion was found in intraoperative findings to have a hard gall bladder neck was hard and a mass 40 mm in diameter in the liver bed. Pathological diagnosis of the tumor biopsy specimen was adenocarcinoma. The patient was inoperable due to gall bladder cancer having invaded a wide range of the hepatoduodenum ligament. After surgery, she underwent treatment with Gemcitabine 500 mg/m² (800 mg/body) on days 1, 8, and 15 over 28 days. The tumor disappeared on CT and US examination 5 cycles later, so we reoperated to remove the gall bladder, but were unsuccessful due to strong gall bladder adhesion. The biopsy specimen of the liver bed did not show any malignancy. The patient has undergone 24 cycles of Gemcitabine and remains well after 4-year follow up.

Key words
gall bladder cancer, gemcitabine, unresectable

Reprint requests
Kiyokazu Hiwatashi Department of Surgical Oncology and Digestive Surgery, Kagoshima University School of Medicine
8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8520 JAPAN

Accepted
February 22, 2006

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