Postoperative recurrence of pancreatic cancer controlled for 9 months solely by severe carbohydrate restriction: ketogenic diet

TL;DR

A patient with pancreatic cancer saw suppressed tumor growth for 9 months after switching to a strict ketogenic diet following surgery and other treatments.

Contribution

Demonstrates that a ketogenic diet may suppress pancreatic cancer recurrence when applied strictly.

Findings

A 60-year-old female's pancreatic cancer recurrence was controlled for 9 months with a ketogenic diet.

The patient's tumor showed stable disease on CT scans after following the diet.

The ketogenic diet was used as the sole treatment after other therapies failed.

Abstract

Carbohydrate restriction (ketogenic diet) is a cancer treatment that reduces energy production by oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria of cancer cells and increases it through anaerobic glycolysis in cytoplasm. We report a patient in whom progression of pancreatic cancer recurrence was suppressed solely by a ketogenic diet for 9-month post-surgery. A 60-year-old female with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer underwent pancreatoduodenectomy after 3 cycles of chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel. Multiple pulmonary metastases were observed 22 months after the surgery. We administered gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel for 1 year. As the partial response continued for 1 year, we performed radiotherapy for the remnant pulmonary metastases followed by administration of S-1 for 6 months. Ten months after radiotherapy, CT showed exacerbation of the pulmonary metastases. As treatment, she requested severe carbohydrate restriction. After 9 months of the ketogenic diet, CT revealed stable disease. A ketogenic diet may have the therapeutic effect of suppressing tumor progression if strictly applied.

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