Pilot study of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil for patients with postoperative liver metastases from pancreatic cancer

Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy for Liver Metastases Following Standard Chemotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

A 65-year-old man diagnosed with locally advanced pancreatic cancer underwent distal pancreatectomy and combined portal vein resection. One month after surgery, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple liver metastases. We administered two courses of gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel combination therapy followed by 17 modified FOLFIRINOX courses. However, the response was insufficient, and the patient thereafter developed grade 3 neutropenia, which made it difficult to continue the treatment regimen. As a result, we administered hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy comprising gemcitabine plus 5-fluorouracil because the residual tumor was limited to liver metastases. The progression-free survival period was 7 months, and no drug-related adverse effects were noted during the treatment.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine-based regimens improves the prognosis of node positive resectable pancreatic head cancer

The effectiveness of preoperative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy (NAC) for resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear. The present study retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of NAC with gemcitabine (GEM)-based regimens or GEM monotherapy for resectable PDAC. Between 2006 and 2015, NAC with GEM was performed in 52 cases (head 31, and body and tail 21) and compared with 34 resection-only cases serving as controls (head 20, and body and tail 14). According to the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors guidelines, the treatment effect was a partial response in 5 cases, stable disease in 45 cases, and progressive disease in 2 cases. Maximum standardized uptake values and carbohydrate antigen (CA19-9) values were significantly reduced after preoperative chemotherapy. Using the Evans grading system, the treatment effect was grade I in 31 patients, grade IIa in 8, and grade IIb in 3 cases. There were significant differences in the overall survival rate between the NAC and control groups, only in the patients with node-positive pancreatic head cancer. Significantly higher CA19-9 values in peripheral blood and higher lymph node metastasis and plexus invasion rates were observed in early-recurring cases within a year. The preoperative CA 19-9 cutoff value as an early recurrence risk factor was calculated as 30 U/ml in the NAC group and 88 U/ml in the control group. NAC with GEM prolonged survival in patients with node-positive pancreatic head cancer. High CA19-9 values before operation, lymph node metastases and plexus invasion were risk factors for early tumor recurrence after surgery. Preoperative chemotherapy would be necessary for resectable pancreatic head cancer as lymph node metastasis was observed in >60% with resectable PDAC. Moreover, if normalization of CA19-9 values is not achieved with NAC, extension of preoperative chemotherapy should be considered as for borderline resectable PDAC cases.

Efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for liver metastases arising from pancreatic cancer

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in treating patients with liver metastases from pancreatic cancer, and explore the prognostic risk factors.

RESULTS

Three of the 27 patients were totally recovered, and 12 were partially alleviated. The total efficacy rate was 55.6% (15/27). The median survival time was 13.6 months, and the 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 70.4% (19/27), 48.1% (13/27), 22.2% (6/27), 14.8 (4/27), 11.1% (3/27), respectively. None of the groups showed any severe complications. Univariate analysis showed that pathological type, concomitant therapies for liver metastasis, vascular supply, CA199 levels and extrahepatic metastasis were related to prognosis (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that pancreatic cancer pathology and extrahepatic metastasis were independent risk factors influencing patients' prognosis (χ2 = 13.182, 17.989, P < 0.05).

METHODS

The clinical records of 27 patients with lliver metastases from pancreatic cancer diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University between May 2009 and May 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. The short-term and long-term efficacy and toxic side effects of TACE were observed. The prognostic risk factors were analyzed using Cox (proportional hazards) regression model.

CONCLUSION

TACE is an effective therapy for treating liver metastases from pancreatic malignancy. Pathological type and extrahepatic metastasis of pancreatic tumor are independent risk factors for patients' prognosis. The prognosis of patients with liver metastasis from pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm is superior to that of extrahepatic metastasis.

Postoperative hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy improved survival of pancreatic cancer after radical pancreatectomy: a retrospective study

Objective

To determine the effect of postoperative hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) on long-term survival of patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) after radical pancreatectomy.

Methods

A total of 87 patients with PC underwent radical pancreatectomy in the First People's Hospital affiliated to Huzhou Normal College between June 2008 and May 2013. Among these patients, after surgery, 43 received two sessions of HAIC followed by four sessions of systemic chemotherapy (HAIC group), while 44 received six sessions of systemic chemotherapy alone (control group). Both the HAIC and systemic chemotherapy regimen included 5-fluorouracil (1,000 mg/m²) as a 5-h infusion on day 1, and gemcitabine (800 mg/m²) as an over 30-min infusion on days 1 and 8. The toxicity, complication, and long-term survival were retrospectively compared.

Results

No significant difference in patient characteristics between the two groups was found. No chemotherapy-related deaths were recorded, and no significant difference in toxicities was observed between the two groups. The 5-year disease-free survival probability did not differ between the two groups (P=0.2029, hazard ratio for recurrence=0.7561; 95% CI=0.4768-1.1989, by the log-rank test). The HAIC group had significantly higher 5-year overall survival probability (P=0.0288, hazard ratio for death=0.6059; 95% CI=0.3734-0.9832, by the log-rank test) and higher 5-year hepatic metastases-free survival probability (P=0.0321, hazard ratio for hepatic metastases=0.5006; 95% CI=0.2546-0.9843, by the log-rank test) than the control group.

Conclusions

Postoperative HAIC has the potential to prevent hepatic metastases and increase long-term survival probability of patients with PC after radical pancreatectomy.

Saturable Hepatic Extraction of Gemcitabine Involves Biphasic Uptake Mediated by Nucleoside Transporters Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 and 2

Hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) is expected to be more effective and safer method to treat hepatic metastasis of pancreatic cancer compared with intravenous administration, because it affords higher tumor exposure with lower systemic exposure. Thus, a key issue for dose selection is the saturability of hepatic uptake of GEM. Therefore, we investigated GEM uptake in rat and human isolated hepatocytes. Hepatic GEM uptake involved high- and low-affinity saturable components with Km values of micromolar and millimolar order, respectively. The uptake was inhibited concentration dependently by S-(4-nitrobenzyl)-6-thioinosine (NBMPR) and was sodium-ion-independent, suggesting a contribution of equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs). The concentration dependence of uptake in the presence of 0.1 μM NBMPR showed a single low-affinity binding site. Therefore, the high- and low-affinity sites correspond to ENT1 and ENT2, respectively. Our results indicate hepatic extraction of GEM is predominantly mediated by the low-affinity site (hENT2), and at clinically relevant hepatic concentrations of GEM, hENT2-mediated uptake would not be completely saturated. This is critical for HAI, because saturation of hepatic uptake would result in a marked increase of GEM concentration in the peripheral circulation, abrogating the advantage of HAI over intravenous administration in terms of severe adverse events.

Multiple liver metastases of pancreatic solid pseudopapillary tumor treated with resection following chemotherapy and transcatheter arterial embolization: A case report

A 33-year-old female was diagnosed with a solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas and multiple liver metastases at the Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Ishikawa Prefectural Central Hospital (Kanazawa, Japan). Distal pancreatectomy and postoperative systemic chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) and S-1, an oral fluoropyrimidine derivative, was administered, however, liver metastases became enlarged and local recurrence occurred. Therefore, the patient was referred to the Department of Gastroenterologic Surgery at the Graduate School of Medicine (Kanazawa, Japan) for hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy. Oral S-1 (80 mg/m²) was administered as well as HAI chemotherapy with GEM (1,000 mg/standard liver volume). Following 18 cycles, tumor sizes were reduced and 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸FDG-PET) examination revealed obvious reduction of tumor FDG uptake. Transarterial tumor embolization (TAE) was performed for the previously unresectable right subphrenic liver tumor, and the other tumors were surgically resected. The resected tumors were diagnosed as liver metastases and a local recurrence of SPT in the postoperative pathological examination, which revealed that the resected tumors were composed of sheets of bland cells, which were positive for CD10, CD56, vimentin, neuron-specific enolase and α-antitrypsin. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient is currently under observation at an outpatient clinic; postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with oral S-1 has continued, and additional TAE is planned. In the future, if the middle segment of the liver becomes enlarged, surgery for the residual right lobe tumor may be possible. This case demonstrates one method of SPT treatment: Preoperative HAI chemotherapy with GEM, plus oral S-1 and TAE. If complete resection can be achieved, the majority of patients with SPT have a favorable prognosis. In patients with unresectable metastases from SPT, it is crucial to conduct systematic multimodal treatment to maximize treatment success.

Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil or oral S-1 improves the prognosis of patients with postoperative liver metastases from pancreatic cancer

Hepatic metastasis is a common cause of treatment failure following resection of pancreatic cancer. In this study, we report our results of hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or oral S-1 treatment for postoperative liver metastases from pancreatic cancer. Seven patients with postoperative liver metastases from pancreatic cancer received HAI with GEM plus 5-FU or oral S-1 between October, 2008 and September, 2010 at Kanazawa University Hospital (Kanazawa, Japan). Three out of the 7 cases exhibited a partial response (PR) according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and stable disease (SD) was achieved in 3 out of the 7 cases (response rate, 85.7%). A decrease in serum tumor marker CA 19-9 levels was observed after 10 HAI treatment cycles in 5 out of the 7 cases. The median time to treatment failure was 8 months (range, 0–17 months). Adverse events included grade 3 leukocytopenia in 1 case and anemia in all 7 cases, although 5 out of the 7 patients were anemic prior to HAI therapy. Grade 2 thrombocytopenia was also observed in 2 cases. Non-hematological events, such as nausea, diarrhea, liver injury or neuropathy and life-threatening toxicities were not reported; however, 6 patients (85.7%) developed catheter-related complications and the HAI catheter and subcutaneous implantable port system had to be removed. These findings demonstrated that HAI may deliver high doses of chemotherapeutic agents directly into the tumor vessels, producing increased regional levels with greater efficacy and a lower incidence/severity of systemic side effects. In conclusion, HAI chemotherapy is a safe and effective treatment for liver metastases from pancreatic cancer.