2016 Volume 107 Issue 4 Pages 256-260
We report a patient with retroperitoneal myxoid liposarcoma recurrence who achieved remarkable improvements in performance status (PS) and maintained stable disease for approximately 5 months when treated with combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) and docetaxel combination chemotherapy (GD). A 51-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with the chief complaint of a palpable mass in the left side of the abdomen. A retroperitoneal liposarcoma was diagnosed on the basis of magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography results, and tumor resection was performed. The histopathological evaluation showed myxoid liposarcoma, which was classified as grade 2 according to the French Federation of Cancer Centers Sarcoma Group (FNCLCC) system.
Two months later, the tumor regionally recurred as peritoneal dissemination with rapid growth. Five months after the surgery, the growing tumor caused appetite loss and pleural effusion in the left lung. GD was administered (800 mg/m2 GEM on days 1 and 8, and 60 mg/m2 docetaxel on day 8) and 4 cycles were administered.
The resulting decrease in abdominal girth and in the amount of pleural effusion allowed the patient to regain her appetite, and the patient's PS greatly improved from 3 to 1.
Initially, GD was shown to be effective for the treatment of leiomyosarcoma and pleomorphic sarcoma, and it is now recommended as one of the first-line regimens in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for soft tissue sarcoma treatment. The patient in this case showed remarkable improvement in PS after tumor recurrence and maintained stable disease for some time, without severe adverse effects.
