2022 Volume 17 Issue 4 Pages 141-145
A 67-year-old man with Stage IV gastric cancer (cT3N2M1) received chemotherapy. However, he had progressive disease and then, received palliative care. One day, he was admitted for difficulty in body movement. He had severe anemia (Hb: 3.4 g/dl) caused by tumor bleeding and needed frequent blood transfusions. Palliative radiotherapy (RT) was conducted to control the bleeding. However, hemostasis was not achieved despite daily palliative RT and blood transfusions. Gastrointestinal endoscopy showed oozing blood from gastric cancer and his Hb levels dropped to 2.8 g/dl. Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) with gelatin sponge was performed as salvage therapy. TAE was effective and his Hb levels improved to 8.0 g/dl, and he was discharged from the hospital. RT is an effective modality for gastric bleeding control in gastric cancer. However, salvage therapy is sometimes needed but difficult to conduct. TAE was effective salvage therapy in this case.
