Twelve-year survival after the diagnosis of locally advanced carcinoma of the pancreas: A case report

The long-term survival rate of patients with carcinoma of the pancreas is l ow. Even more so, long-term survival of patients with metastatic pancreatic carcinoma is extremely rare. In this case report, we describe a patient wi th an unusual course of disease. This patient was diagnosed with locoregion al carcinoma of the pancreas and therefore underwent gastroenterostomy and cholecystojeojenostomy without resection of the primary tumor. Later he was treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy and survived 12 years, during 1 1 of which he had no evidence of disease. He died 12 years after the initia l diagnosis from peritoneal dissemination of poorly differentiated carcinom a complicated with obstructive jaundice and sepsis. To our knowledge, this patient had the longest reported survival with locally advanced pancreas ca rcinoma that was not resected. The case is presented and discussed in this article. J. Surg. Oncol. 2000:75:142-145. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.