A CASE OF EARLY BILE DUCT CARCINOMA REGRESSED BY INGESTION OF SHARK CARTILAGE

Abstract

A 66-year-old man complaining of upper abdominal pain was admitted to the hospital for close exploration. Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) revealed a papillo-expansive tumor 55mm in diameter in the mid-portion of the common bile duct. Due to poor general condition of the patient including hemiparalysis from cerebral infarction, bilialy plastic stenting was chosen rather than radical operation. After 7 month's observation with self-medication of shark cartilage, ERCP exhibited a regression of the primary tumor to 15mm in diameter. After the patient discontinued the shark cartilage, however, the tumor started to grow again, then operation was performed. Extract of shark cartilage exerts a potent antiangiogenic action and the preparation of the extract 'neovastat' is under the Phase III clinical studies in the U. S. To our knowledge, no reports have been published of shark cartilage for bile duct cancer in the English literature. Our report implies that antiangiogenic therapy might be effective for bile duct cancer, which is well-known to show multi-drug resistance and poor response to chemotherapeutic modalities.