Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2019; 7(15): 2065-2074
Published online Aug 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i15.2065
Hydrogen gas therapy induced shrinkage of metastatic gallbladder cancer: A case report
Ji-Bing Chen, Zhong-Bao Pan, Duan-Ming Du, Wei Qian, Yang-Yang Ma, Feng Mu, Ke-Cheng Xu
Ji-Bing Chen, Zhong-Bao Pan, Wei Qian, Yang-Yang Ma, Feng Mu, Ke-Cheng Xu, Central Laboratory, Fuda Cancer Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510665, Guangdong Province, China
Duan-Ming Du, Intervention Department of Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen 518035, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Chen JB and Pan ZB contributed equally to this work; Pan ZB, Qian W, Xu KC, and Du DM designed the research; Chen JB and Mu F performed the research; Ma YY analyzed the data; and Chen JB and Xu KC wrote the paper.
Informed consent statement: This clinical trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The patient provided written informed consent for publication of this case report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ke-Cheng Xu, MD, Chairman, Central Laboratory, Fuda Cancer Hospital of Jinan University, No. 2, Tangdexi Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510665, Guangdong Province, China. xukc@vip.163.com
Telephone: +86-3899-39668666 Fax: +86-3899-39668666
Received: March 2, 2019
Peer-review started: March 4, 2019
First decision: May 31, 2019
Revised: June 17, 2019
Accepted: June 26, 2019
Article in press: June 27, 2019
Published online: August 6, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

We present the case of a 72-year-old female patient with gallbladder cancer (GBC) who developed in situ recurrence and liver metastases 9 mo after irreversible electroporation ablation and oral tegafur (a fluoropyrimidine derivative) chemotherapy, which failed to control the progression of the disease. The patient further developed metastases in the lymph nodes around the head of the pancreas. The patient had severe anemia, requiring weekly blood transfusions. The gallbladder tumor invaded the descending part of the duodenum, causing intestinal leakage and hepatic colonic adhesion.

CASE SUMMARY

The patient refused other treatments and began daily hydrogen inhalation therapy. After 1 mo of treatment, the gallbladder and liver tumors continued to progress, and intestinal obstruction occurred. After continuous hydrogen therapy and symptomatic treatments including gastrointestinal decompression and intravenous nutrition support, the intestinal obstruction was gradually relieved. Three months after hydrogen therapy, the metastases in the abdominal cavity gradually reduced in size, her anemia and hypoalbuminemia were corrected, lymphocyte and tumor marker levels returned to normal, and the patient was able to resume normal life.

CONCLUSION

This is the first report of an efficacy and safety study about hydrogen therapy in patient with metastatic GBC and a critical general condition, who has remained stable for more than 4 months.

Keywords: Hydrogen gas, Metastatic gallbladder cancer, Case report

Core tip: This is the first report of an efficacy and safety study about hydrogen therapy in patient with metastatic gallbladder cancer and a critical general condition, who has remained stable for more than 4 mo.