2005 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 55-60
The patient was a 55-year-old-man who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for ductal carcinoma of the pancreas head. At 6 weeks after operation, he was treated with 200 mg/m2 of gemcitabine simultaneously with whole liver irradiation to prevent hepatic recurrence. He developed dyspnea and bilateral interstitial edema was noted on the chest X-ray at 26 days after this therapy. Corticosteroid therapy was extremely effective in the treatment of pulmonary failure and he was discharged 41 days after chemoradiotherapy. Gemcitabine is an anti-cancer agent for patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma, and is commonly used to prevent recurrence. Although 200 mg/m2 of gemcitabine used in our patient is low dose for chemotherapy, severe lung injury could occur when this agent is combined with whole liver radiotherapy.
