Metastatic acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas responding to gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin therapy: a case report

Acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas is rare tumour with a generally poor prognosis. There are very few reports of tumour regression following chemotherapy. In this case report, a patient with metastatic acinar cell carcinoma in the liver developed progressive disease after cisplatin/etoposide and then had progressive disease after weekly paclitaxel chemotherapy. However, his tumour then responded to gemcitibine/5-flourouracil/leucovorin chemotherapy. Herein, previously described chemotherapy regimens used for this rare tumour are reviewed. This case represents the first reported metastatic acinar cell carcinoma responding to this regimen.