The goal of this study was to see how effective and safe neoadjuvant chemoradiation with image-guided IMRT was in patients with locally advanced resectable gastric cancer. Between January 2013 and June 2019, patients with locally advanced (cT3/cT4 or N+) gastric cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy at PUMCH (Peking Union Medical College Hospital) were retrospectively studied. Using concurrent chemotherapy (Capecitabine alone or XELOX*2 cycles), radiotherapy (IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy) 45 Gy, 25#, 5 weeks) was delivered with IGRT (image-guided radiotherapy) before the start of each weeks therapy to ensure accuracy and repeatability. A total of 95 patients were enrolled in the study, 93 (97.9%) stage cT3/T4 and 85 (89.5%) stage N+. Of these, 85 patients (89.5%) had a tumor located in the upper 1/3 of the stomach, and 93/95 patients (97.9%) completed neoadjuvant chemoradiation, with 80 patients (84.2%) undergoing stomach resection (58 D2 and 22 D1 gastrostomies). Pathology downstaging was found in 68 patients (85.0%), with 66 patients (82.5%) receiving T downstaging and 56 patients (70.0%) receiving N downstaging. There were 11 individuals (13.8%) who had a pathological complete response (PCR). The average period of follow-up was 44.7 months (19-96 months). The 5-year OS (overall survival), LRFS (local recurrence-free survival), and DMFS (distant metastasis free survival) rates of patients were 47.0% (95% CI: 38.6-55.4), 86.55% (95% CI: 79.1-93.99) and 60.71% (95% CI: 51.49-69.93%), respectively. Thirteen (13.7%) patients had grade 3-4 leukopenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia, while 9 (9.5%) patients had grade 3-4 anemia, and 5 (5.3%) patients had grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia. PCR was found to be a significant predictive factor for OS in multivariate analysis (HR = 11.211, 95% CI: 1.500-83.813, p = 0.024). The method of using IGRT image-guided IMRT (45 Gy, 25 fractions, 5 weeks) combined with concurrent chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced resectable gastric cancer was equally effective when compared to the clinical efficacy of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, with clinical outcomes achieving equal efficacy, with similar PCR rates and high rates of OS, LRFS, and DMFS, as well as good tolerances of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with acceptable side effects.
Keywords: gastric cancer; pathological complete response; preoperative chemo-radiotherapy; radiotherapy.