Successful treatment of unresectable gallbladder cancer with low-dose paclitaxel as palliative chemotherapy after failure of gemcitabine and oral S-1: A case report.

A 56-year-old female with metastatic gallbladder cancer involving the liver and stenosis of the hilar bile duct was treated with gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m(2)) plus S-1 (60 mg/m(2)). After 9 cycles of therapy, CT showed evidence of stable disease; however, the serum CEA level was increased. Therefore, the chemotherapy regimen was changed to weekly low-dose paclitaxel (60 mg/m(2)). After 12 cycles of therapy, paclitaxel was reduced to 30 mg/m(2) as the patient developed neutropenia. The patient completed 32 cycles of therapy, and the tumor was reduced in size and marked improvement in bile duct stenosis was noted without any impairment in quality of life. The patient succumbed to the disease 25 months after treatment was initiated. Thus, in this case paclitaxel was more effective than gemcitabine plus S-1. Palliative chemotherapy with paclitaxel after failure of gemcitabine and 5-FU was well-tolerated; therefore, it may be an effective treatment for biliary tract cancer (BTC). A phase I study of palliative chemotherapy with weekly low-dose paclitaxel following gemcitabine (plus cisplatin) and 5-FU is currently in progress in patients with unresectable or recurrent BTC.