[Effects of 5-fluorouracil in shrinking residual gastric cancer: a case report]

The patient was a 79-year-old man who underwent extensive gastrectomy and Billroth-II reconstruction for gastric ulcer in 1974. He complained of heartburn in November, 1992, and endoscopy for the residual stomach revealed IIb + IIa-like lesion mainly in the posterior wall of the anastomosed site, which was diagnosed as well differentiated adenocarcinoma. As the patient refused to be operated, 150 mg/day of 5-FU was administered. For 4 months before he decided to undergo operation, 12.9 g of 5-FU was administered in total. After rehospitalization, endoscopy of the residual stomach showed shrinkage of the lesion, and biopsy revealed no malignant findings. The pathological examination after total resection of the residual stomach showed atypism, but no evidence to support malignancy. He has continued to be well without sign of recurrence for 1 year since the operation. The administration of 5-FU is widely used as preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. This case it is rare for 5-FU to cause the disappearance or falling off of malignant cells.