[Chemotherapy of gastric cancer--a review of clinical trials in Japan]

Abstract

This review focused on the clinical trials in patients with gastric cancer in Japan. Oral fluoropyrimidines have been extensively used in Japan. Through the decades, these oral fluoropyrimidines have been examined in a variety of combinations. Most of the reports are about randomized phase II trials using overall response rate as a primary endpoint, and are a few phase III trials were conducted. S-1 (TS-1), a novel oral fluoropyrimidine, has demonstrated promising activity in phase II trials. Ongoing phase III trials on S-1 would be defining this as standard chemotherapy for metastatic gastric cancer.