[Case report of meningeal carcinomatosis of gastric cancer successfully treated with intrathecal and systemic chemotherapy].

A 36-year-old housewife in the U.S.A. was diagnosed as having gastric cancer with meningeal carcinomatosis and admitted to our hospital in September, 1982. She had severe headache, nausea, vomiting, diplopia and neck stiffness. She was treated by intrathecal chemotherapy using methotrexate, cytosine arabinoside and prednisolone, and by systemic chemotherapy using adriamycin and ftorafur, resulting in complete disappearance of cancer cells from the cerebrospinal fluid and partial response for the primary tumor. She lived for more than 1 year following the first symptoms of her disease and for 10 months following the initiation of chemotherapy. This case suggested the usefulness of employing an intrathecal chemotherapy using methotrexate and cytosine arabinoside with simultaneous systemic chemotherapy for meningeal carcinomatosis of gastric cancer.