[Long-term arterial infusion chemotherapy combined with external irradiation therapy for unresectable pancreatic cancer--a case report].

A 66-year-old man was referred to our hospital with complaints of intractable abdominal and back pain, and diagnosed to have carcinoma of the pancreatic body. At laparotomy, he was assessed as unresectable because of cancer invasion of the superior mesenteric artery and abdominal aorta. Therefore two catheters connected to an implantable access device were placed in both the gastroduodenal and splenic arteries, in addition to gastrojejunostomy and chemical splanchnicectomy, followed by postoperative external irradiation therapy. The histological examination of the specimen obtained operatively confirmed that the lesion was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. Also the nuclear DNA analysis, carried out cytofluorometrically, showed diploid pattern. After discharge from our hospital, the man was treated by intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy in the outpatient department every two weeks. He lived a nearly normal life with satisfactory quality for two years until he died of GI-bleeding. In addition to the fact that the biological aggressiveness of the carcinoma cells assessed by DNA ploidy was relatively low, the combined modality therapy including pain control might benefit patients.