BACKGROUND: Advanced or metastatic gallbladder carcinoma is regarded not much sensitive to chemotherapy. Standard chemotherapy regimens have not been established up to now. PATIENTS: We report on 5 patients with advanced gallbladder carcinoma who received chemotherapy with gemcitabine. RESULTS: Of these 5 patients, 3 demonstrated a partial remission and stable disease was achieved in another patient. Only one patient had no benefit from treatment with gemcitabine. CONCLUSION: We conclude that gemcitabine may be an effective drug in the palliative treatment of gallbladder cancer, and thus its efficiency warrants evaluation in further studies.
BACKGROUND: Advanced or metastatic gallbladder carcinoma is regarded not much sensitive to chemotherapy. Standard chemotherapy regimens have not been established up to now. PATIENTS: We report on 5 patients with advanced gallbladder carcinoma who received chemotherapy with gemcitabine. RESULTS: Of these 5 patients, 3 demonstrated a partial remission and stable disease was achieved in another patient. Only one patient had no benefit from treatment with gemcitabine. CONCLUSION: We conclude that gemcitabine may be an effective drug in the palliative treatment of gallbladder cancer, and thus its efficiency warrants evaluation in further studies.