Background: Small bowel cancer (SBC) is a rare malignancy that is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Palliative chemotherapy is the standard treatment for patients with metastatic SBC. The relevant literature on conversion surgery in patients who have responded favorably to chemotherapy is limited.
Case presentation: A 64-year-old man was diagnosed with jejunal carcinoma with multiple peritoneal metastases. After implanting an expandable metallic stent at the primary site, the patient underwent 6 months of FOLFOX therapy, resulting in a clinical complete response. Chemotherapy was continued, and four years after the initiation of therapy, the patient showed no evidence of disease progression. Nevertheless, anemia of continuous minor hemorrhages from the stent site and general malaise of chemotherapy got progressively worse during treatment. After confirming negative ascites cytology and the absence of peritoneal metastasis via staging laparoscopy, the patient underwent partial jejunectomy. Pathologically, no residual tumor was detected in the resected specimen. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient remained free of recurrence for 30 months after surgery without chemotherapy.
Conclusion: Although infrequent, conversion surgery may be a valid therapeutic option for selected cases of SBC with peritoneal metastasis.
Keywords: Chemotherapy; Complete response; Conversion surgery; FOLFOX; Jejunal adenocarcinoma; Multimodal therapy; Peritoneal metastases; Small bowel cancer.
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