A Single Institutional Analysis of Systemic Therapy for Unresectable or Recurrent Small Bowel Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is rare. For unresectable or recurrent SBA, systemic treatment is the only potentially promising option.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 13 patients with SBA treated at our Institute. All patients received fluorouracil- or fluoropyrimidine-based regimens. We analyzed associations between the progression-free interval (PFI) and therapeutic regimen (n=17) and patient characteristics.

RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival of patients with SBA was 23.5%. The 5-year relapse-free survival of patients with curatively resected (R0 or R1) SBA (n=6) was 45%. Patients with unresectable or recurrent SBA (n=10) had a median overall survival time of 28.0 months. No factor was significantly associated with PFI, except the number of treatment regimens required: patients that received only one line of treatment survived significantly longer than those receiving multiple lines.

CONCLUSION: Fluorouracil- or fluoropyrimidine-based regimens might effectively treat unresectable or recurrent SBA. We did not investigate any additive agents that might have increased efficacy of these regimens.