[Prolonged complete response obtained by radiation and chemotherapy with paclitaxel in a case of recurrent gastric cancer in the rectovesical pouch].

The case is a 75-year-old man, who underwent curative resection for the upper part of stomach cancer (Stage II), and was without a recurrence for two years. The patient had been well until September 2006, when CT examination revealed a 5 cm tumor in the rectovesical pouch. The tumor was histologically diagnosed as a peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer through CT-guided percutaneous needle biopsy. Chemotherapy with S-1 was initiated, but it resulted in progressive disease. To locally control the growing tumor and avoid rectal stenosis, irradiation was applied for a total of 56 Gy in December 2007 and then followed by chemotherapy with paclitaxel. He obtained a complete response 7-month later, and remains CR for 3 years by receiving paclitaxel chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy is of choice for gastric cancer recurrence, in some cases radiotherapy can play an important role in local control even in peritoneal metastasis.