Background and purpose: Complete surgical resection remains the only curative treatment option in locally advanced gastric cancer (GC). Several studies were conducted to prevent local recurrence and to increase the chance of cure. The aim of this study was to summarize our experience in locally advanced GC patients treated with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and to evaluate overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), toxicity rate and compliance to treatment.
Materials and methods: Locally advanced GC stage IB-III were included. Adjuvant CRT consisted of 45-50.4 Gy (1.8 Gy/day, 5 days/week) with concomitant Macdonald regimen (Mcd) or Epirubicin, Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil (ECF) scheme. Univariate and multivariate analysis of several prognostic factors for OS was conducted.
Results: Fourty-nine GC patients were treated: 24 received Mcd and 25 received ECF. Median follow up was 48 months. Acute grade 3-4 toxicity was observed in 6 patients. The 2-year and 5-year OS rates were 65.3% and 41.5%, respectively. The 2-year and 5-year DFS were 59.2% and 41.2%, respectively. No prognostic factors were significantly associated with OS.
Conclusions: Adjuvant CRT is a feasible strategy in locally advanced GC. It has an acceptable toxicity rate and it is able to increase both DFS and OS.
Keywords: adjuvant therapy; chemoradiotherapy; gastric cancer; radiotherapy.