HER-2-positive gastric cancer accompanied by liver metastasis: a case report of a rare complete response and literature review

The prognosis of advanced gastric cancer is poor, and the prognosis of late-stage gastric cancer with expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) is worse. Personalized therapy is based on the specific situation of each patient to determine the best treatment plan. We diagnosed a 36-year-old patient with a HER-2-producing adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia accompanied by liver metastasis. Sixteen cycles of chemotherapy were consecutively administered to the patient, starting with a three-drug combination, followed by a two-drug combination, and finally a single drug as a chemotherapy regimen. During these treatments, the molecular targeted drug trastuzumab was continuously administered. In the end, the patient experienced a complete response (CR). In clinical practice, advanced gastric cancer is not well controlled in certain patients, due to inadequate first-line chemotherapy and its side-effects. If a patient enjoys a strong performance status (PS), we emphasize the importance of molecular-targeted drugs combined with prolonged administration of chemotherapy.