A case of metastatic esophageal cancer responding remarkably to combination chemotherapy of TS-1 and cisplatin

A 51-year-old male patient with esophageal cancer and cervical, thoracic and celiac artery lymph node metastases was treated by combination chemotherapy of TS-1 and cisplatin. TS-1 (80 mg/m2/day) was administered for 14 days followed by 14 days rest as 1 course. Cisplatin (70 mg/m2/day) was administered in 24-hour continuous intravenous infusion at day 8 after the start of TS-1. Before treatment, the tumor marker, CEA showed 27,060 ng/ml. After 5 courses of chemotherapy, endoscopy revealed that the primary tumor had disappeared and no cancer cells were detected by endoscopic biopsy. Chest and abdominal CT scan also showed almost total disappearance of the lymph nodes metastases. CEA decreased to 710 ng/ml. No high-grade toxicities (WHO grade 3 or 4) were seen during the chemotherapy. He is now very well. This TS-1/cisplatin chemotherapy regimen might be a useful treatment for metastatic esophageal cancer.