Gallbladder Cancer Showing a Great Response to Paclitaxel Plus Carboplatin Chemotherapy: A Case Report

Abstract

Currently, complete surgical resection is the most effective and the only potentially curative treatment for gallbladder carcinoma (GBC). However, GBC frequently presents various manifestations as it progresses, including liver invasion, bile duct invasion, hepatoduodenal invasion, venous invasion, and lymphatic invasion. Although there is a clear need for effective chemotherapeutic methods in the management of GBC, no standard chemotherapeutic regimen for advanced GBC has been established to date, and the prognosis remains poor. Herein, we report a case of successful treatment in a patient with advanced GBC who showed a great response to combination chemotherapy and who was subsequently able to undergo curative resection. A 38-year-old Japanese woman was first diagnosed with unknown primary cancer with bilateral ovarian, hepatic, and peritoneal metastases. Combination paclitaxel plus carboplatin chemotherapy was started at a dose of 653 mg of carboplatin and 248 mg of paclitaxel once a week for 3 weeks. After 6 cycles, the tumor had shrunk in size and was detected as only a slightly contrasted lesion in Couinaud's hepatic segments 4 and 5. One month after the final cycle of chemotherapy, we performed cholecystectomy and right lobectomy of the liver with D2 lymph node dissection. The patient exhibited an uneventful postoperative course. Five months have passed since the operation, with no signs of recurrent disease. Our findings suggest that combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin may be effective against advanced GBC.