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. 1996 Feb;73(4):549–552. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1996.95

Adjuvant chemotherapy after gastric resection in node-positive cancer patients: a multicentre randomised study.

B Neri 1, V de Leonardis 1, S Romano 1, F Andreoli 1, L M Pernice 1, L Bruno 1, D Borrelli 1, A Valeri 1, S Fabbroni 1, C Intini 1, G Cini 1
PMCID: PMC2074461  PMID: 8595173

Abstract

After curative resection for gastric adenocarcinoma, 103 patients, all with positive nodes, were randomised so that 48 received adjuvant chemotherapy of epidoxorubicin (EPI) 75 mg m-2 on day 1, leucovorin (LV) 200 mg m-2 on days 1-3 and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 450 mg m-2 on days 1-3, every 21 days for 7 months, whereas the remaining 55 did not. During the first year of observation, 21 control patients (38%) and five treated patients had recurrences. After a follow-up period of 36 months, 12 of the treated patients (25%) and only seven controls (13%) were still alive. At that point, the median survival was 13.6 months for the 55 untreated patients and 20.4 months for the 48 treated patients, a significant difference. We found a survival advantage for patients treated with the EPI-LV-5-FU regimen and a consistent delay in the appearance of recurrent or metastatic cancer. Acute toxicity was mild and treatment was well accepted by all patients. There was no long-term toxicity or any cardiac toxicity. We conclude that this particular chemotherapy, administered shortly after gastric resection, improves survival rate in node-positive gastric cancer patients, even although final assessment of this particular adjuvant approach must await completion of the trial.

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Selected References

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