Carcinoma of Head of Pancreas with Spontaneous Regression

Case Details

Personal Characteristics

A twenty-one-year-old white american male clerk

Clinical Characteristics

Abdominal pain, hypotension, tachycardia, malaise, anorexia, low-grade fever, jaundice of three months’ duration, acute cholangitis and pericholangitis, paralytic ileus, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, metastatic, poorly differentiated ductal carcinoma

Remission Characteristics

Jaundice diminished, appetite returned, icterus faded, regained his normal weight in six months and returned to work

Treatment & Mechanisms

Proposed Remission Mechanisms

The possible immunologic factors affecting such remissions are reviewed and discussed

Clinical Treatment

Surgery for repair of a rent in the liver, a t tube was placed in the common duct, whipple operation was abandoned

Additional Notes

The patient was discharged after two weeks, improved, and on no specific medication. At home, slowly but gradually, the icterus faded, and he regained his normal weight in six months and returned to work. One year postoperatively, the local draft board found him apparently so well that they required proof of disability. His local physician (A.D.H.) routinely runs a battery of liver function tests, examines him every six months, and he is now perfectly fit. Currently, he is happily married and rearing a family