The prognosis of advanced gastric cancer remains poor. Palliative radiotherapy has been utilized to palliate bleeding in unresectable gastric cancer. Recent studies have described that a systemic immune response may be induced by local radiotherapy to the primary tumor lesion. Here we report a rare case of an abscopal effect in a patient with inoperable gastric cancer combined with tumor hemorrhage. A short course of radiotherapy was performed to palliate bleeding; additionally, the patient was treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Complete response was achieved in the lung metastasis lesion. The observed abscopal effect suggests that there may be a synergistic effect between immunotherapy and radiotherapy. This case report supports the combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.
Keywords: abscopal effect; advanced gastric cancer; immunotherapy; palliative radiotherapy; synergistic effect.
Our case report suggests the potential benefits of immunotherapy combined with palliative radiotherapy in advanced gastric cancer. Metastatic lesions of cancer patients could obtain a treatment response by local radiotherapy to the primary tumor and systemic immunotherapy. The results indicate a synergistic effect of immunotherapy and radiotherapy in activating an antitumor immune response.