Effective weekly paclitaxel administration for gastric cancer with malignant ascites--a case report

We report a case in which weekly paclitaxel (TXL) administration was effective for gastric cancer with malignant ascites. TXL (80 mg/m2) was infused over 1 hour after short premedication on an outpatient basis. Administration was continued for 3 weeks followed by 1 week rest. The patient was a 49-year-old woman who suffered from non-resectable gastric cancer, staged intraoperatively as having severe lymph node metastasis and malignant ascites. As an outpatient treatment, she was first treated with 5-fluorouracil combined with high-dose Leucovorin for 4 cycles. However, she complained of abdominal fullness and ascites, and received weekly TXL administration as the second line treatment. The ascites had completely disappeared 3 months after administration. The toxic events were anemia (grade 1) and alopecia (grade 2). No major adverse effects such as hypersensitivity reaction, leukopenia or peripheral neuropathy were observed.