Clinical Efficacy and Adverse Reactions of Bevacizumab plus Radiochemotherapy in the Treatment of Advanced Gastric Cancer

Fang Wei,Wei Long Zhong

doi:10.1155/2022/4900037

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of bevacizumab plus radiochemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Methods Eighty-six eligible patients with gastric cancer treated in our institution from August 2019 to August 2020 were recruited and concurrently randomly assigned via the random number table method at a 1 : 1 ratio to receive neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (control group) or bevacizumab (given on the first day of each course of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy) plus neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (study group) for 9 weeks (3 weeks as one course). Outcomes include the clinical efficacy and serum tumor marker levels before and after treatment. Patients in both groups were followed up for 12 months after treatment to obtain progression-free survival (PFS). Assessment of patients' quality of survival was done by the Karnofsky performance score (KPS). The occurrence of adverse reactions in patients during treatment was monitored to evaluate the safety of the treatment protocol. Results The research group outperformed the control group significantly in terms of total treatment efficiency (P < 0.05). After treatment, serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and glycoantigen 199 (CA199) levels were markedly reduced in both groups, with lower results observed in the research group (P < 0.05). The research group had a significantly longer median PFS than the control group (95% CI: 1.182–2.367, 1.132–2.469, P < 0.05). A significantly higher improvement in quality of survival was observed in the research group than in the control group (P < 0.05). No significant intergroup differences in adverse reactions were reported, and no new safety signals were identified (P > 0.05). Conclusion Bevacizumab potentiates the treatment outcomes for advanced gastric cancer by effectively attenuating the abnormalities of serum tumor marker levels and prolonging survival, with a high safety profile, in combination with radiochemotherapy versus radiochemotherapy alone.

Highlights

China has a high incidence of gastric cancer, with annual new cases accounting for more than 42% of the total cases in the world [1]
Exclusion criteria were as follows: patients with abnormal coagulation function or important organ insufficiencies such as the heart, liver, and kidney; patients with cognitive impairment or mental impairment that prevented their cooperation in completing the investigation; patients with allergies or a history of previous drug allergy or allergy to the drugs used in this study; patients in lactation or pregnancy; and patients who had undergone palliative radiotherapy or chemotherapy before randomization
Gastric cancer is a common clinical malignancy with high morbidity and mortality [12]. e early symptoms of gastric cancer are insidious and nonspecific, and the disease has usually progressed to the advanced stages at the time of diagnosis, which results in poor prognosis [13]

Summary

Introduction

China has a high incidence of gastric cancer, with annual new cases accounting for more than 42% of the total cases in the world [1]. Symptoms of gastric cancer are nonspecific and insidious in the early stage, and disease progression will result in symptoms such as epigastric distention and pain, weight loss, nausea, and vomiting [2]. It has been reported [3] that about 60–80% of gastric cancer cases are in the advanced stages at the time of diagnosis, where patients are usually inoperable. Neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy is a preoperative treatment regimen for patients with locally advanced malignancies that contributes to inhibiting metastases and enhancing surgical effectiveness.

Methods

Results

Conclusion