Gemcitabine-induced progressive and sustained tumour response in a patient with multi-drug resistant uterine leiomyosarcoma

BACKGROUND: despite the fact that the combination of gemcitabine (GCB) and docetaxel shows an increased benefit for disease-free survival and overall survival compared to GCB alone in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma, GCB mono-chemotherapy should be considered as a preferable option with respect to the combination because of its lower toxicity profile and the possibility of it being administered continuously for a long time period. CASE REPORT: we report a clinical case of a woman with advanced high-grade uterine leiomyosarcoma, refractory to ifosfamide, doxorubicin and trabectedin, who experienced a sustained and progressive response to GCB alone. CONCLUSIONS: GCB given as mono-chemotherapy can obtain long-lasting tumour control in patients heavily pre-treated with various chemotherapeutic regimes for uterine LMS and should be considered as a possible option for this subset of patients.