We report an investigation of the therapeutic efficacy and safety of combination chemotherapy with docetaxel (DOC) and doxifluridine (5'-DFUR) administered as second-line or third-line chemotherapy in 23 cases of unresectable and/or advanced gastric cancer. Treatment consisted of intravenous DOC (40mg/m/2) on day 1 and 15, and oral 5'-DFUR (600mg/body) on days 1 to 28 every 4 weeks. The response rate for its antitumor efficacy was 17.4 %, with partial response in 4 cases, no change in 6 cases, progressive disease in 12 cases, and one case not evaluable. By site, the response rate was 11. 8% for primary tumors (2/17), 33.3% for lymph nodes (3/9) , and 26.9% for liver metastasis (1/7). Median time to treatment failure was 2.6 months, median overall survival was 4.6 months. The one-year survival rate was 26.1 %, and the two-year survival rate was 13.0%. The most common grade 3 to 4 toxicities were neutropenia( 4.3%), fatigue (8.7%), stomatitis (8.7%), anorexia(4.3% ), and rash (4.3%). Our data suggest that the combination of docetaxel and 5'-DFUR has a promising therapeutic index in patients with unresectable advanced gastric cancer as second-line or third-line chemotherapy.