A 45-year-old male, complaining of upper abdominal pain, was diagnosed at another hospital as having liver tumor, and was admitted to our hospital on March 2. Laboratory data showed inflammatory change and high serum levels of ALP, γ GT, and DUPAN-2. A liver tumor (5×5cm) with a daughter nodule and hepatic hilar invasion were observed upon morphological examinations. There was no pathological finding in the biliary tract, pancreas, or gastrointestinal tract. The tumor was hypovascular on abdominal angiography, and histological findings in needle biopsied specimens from the tumor revealed moderately differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma, so the diagnosis was cholangiocarcinoma. Because the tumor seemed to be unresectable, induated treatment was intra-arterial injection chemotherapy (IA) with ADR, MMC and 5-FU. Four weeks after IA, the tumor size was reduced 27%. The first IA was repeated in 6 weeks, and simultaneously an IA-line was placed in the common hepatic artery with an implantable access device. Nine weeks after the first IA, an ADR bolus injection (40mg/4weeks), MMC (6mg/2weeks), and intermittent continuous IA with 5-FU (500 mg/m
2/day×4/week) were begun. Tumor size diminished 50% at 10 weeks, and 65% at 16weeks after the first IA. The serum level of DUPAN-2 was reduced concomitantly. There has been no evidence of new lesion development for 8 months, and partial response was obtained. Recently IA with an implantable access device has been applied to various malignant diseases, but there are few reports of partial response of cholangiocarcinoma by IA only.
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