Pitfalls of processed pseudogenes in RT-PCR

The patient was a 72-year-old female who had Stage IVb advanced gastric cancer with Virchow's and paraaortic lymph node metastases. She was considered nonresectable and placed on neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of low-dose CDDP and 5-FU. After 1 course of administration, Virchow's metastasis disappeared, and the tumor was remarkably reduced in size. However, this chemotherapy was interrupted by toxicity of grade 3 appetite loss, nausea and vomiting, so that total gastrectomy and splenectomy were performed, which were non-curative operation because of paraaortic lymph node metastases. Histopathological examination of the section of the primary tumor revealed that cancer cells had almost disappeared, and only a few atypical cells remained in the granulation tissue. Eleven months after the surgery, there has been no progression of Virchow's and paraaortic lymph node metastases. Combination chemotherapy of low-dose CDDP and 5-FU appears useful as an inductive approach to advanced gastric cancer.