[A case of liver metastasis of pancreatic duct carcinoma successfully treated with gemcitabine].

We report a patient in whom systemic chemotherapy using gemcitabine was effective against liver metastases of pancreatic cancer. A 72-year-old woman underwent pancreatoduodenectomy with lymphadenectomy and partial resection of the portal vein following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and her postoperative course was uneventful. The diagnosis was stage III anaplastic ductal carcinoma (t2n1P0H0M0). One year and 3 months after the operation, however, her serum level of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) was found to be elevated, and CT examination revealed a mass in the liver that was diagnosed as liver that was metastases. Systemic chemotherapy was performed with a regimen of gemcitabine 600 mg/m2/week for 3 weeks, followed by a week rest, for the first three courses. On and after fourth course, gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2/week was administered. The serum CA19-9 level was down from 882 U/ml to normal after 5 courses of chemotherapy and CT examination revealed that liver metastases had completely vanished. Although no evidence of deterioration was observed, the patient died of infectious pneumonia 10 months after recurrence. The prognosis of liver metastases of pancreatic cancer is quite unfavorable. However, if remission is achieved with gemcitabine, the patient has the possibility to obtain a better outcome.