Metastatic ovarian tumor from pancreatic cancer treated with combined immunotherapy: A case report

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a fatal disease with a high mortality rate due to difficulties in early diagnosis and metastasis. Common sites of metastasis from PC include the liver, lung, stomach and kidney. Patients diagnosed at already the metastatic stages on presentation constitute 50–55% of the cases, with a 5-year survival rate of 3%. By contrast, secondary ovarian metastases account for 10–25% of all ovarian malignancies, though an accurate diagnosis remain challenging. The present study reports the rare case of a 42-year-old woman with primary hepatic metastasis and secondary ovarian metastasis from PC treated with two lines of immunotherapy, who is also experiencing severe treatment-associated toxicity. The patient first received combined immunotherapy consisting of camrelizumab (200 mg; day 1; every 3 weeks) and chemotherapy with nab-paclitaxel (125 mg/m(2); days 1 and 8; every 3 weeks) and gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m(2); days 1 and 8; every 3 weeks). She then exhibited a partial response following 4 months of treatment. However, 9 months after the initial treatment, the disease progressed with ovarian involvement, which was confirmed by surgery. Second-line treatment included immunotherapy, targeted therapy and oral chemotherapy (200 mg sintilimab on day 1; 50 mg tegafur from days 1–14, twice daily; and 8 mg anlotinib from days 1–14, every 3 weeks). The progression-free survival time from this second-line treatment was 6 months. Immunotherapy was permanently aborted due to severe intestinal inflammation, where four lines of combined treatments were recommended. The patient remains on treatment with a good quality of life in July 2022, and a current overall survival time of >24 months. In conclusion, the diagnosis of metastatic PC leads to a poor prognosis, but ovarian metastasis from PC is rare. Furthermore, the combination of immunotherapy with chemotherapy or antiangiogenic inhibitors shows promise as a treatment strategy for advanced stages of PC.