Docetaxel plus FOLFOX4 compared with FOLFOX4 as adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer.

Abstract

181 Background: To compare the efficacy of docetaxel plus FOLFOX4 to FOLFOX4 as adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer patients. Methods: 320 patients with stage IB-IV (M0) gastric cancer were enrolled into the retrospective study. All patients received a total or subtotal gastrectomy with at least D1 lymph nodes dissection. 193 patients received FOLFOX4 as adjuvant chemotherapy. 127 patients received biweekly docetaxel plus FOLFOX4 (DOF regimen) as adjuvant chemotherapy. Docetaxel was administered at 40 mg/m2 on day 1, followed by FOLFOX4 regimen. Both of the regimens were repeated every 2 weeks for a maximum of 12 cycles. Results: In comparison with patients in FOLFOX4 group, patients in DOF group were relatively younger (p=.001), with more advanced disease in pN stage (p=.035) and pTNM stage (p=.031), received more cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (p=.004), and had a higher percentage of adjuvant radiation (p =.002). After adjustment of unbalanced variables as mentioned above, no statistical difference was observed between DOF group and FOLFOX4 group in terms of 3-year disease-free survival (54% vs 69%, p = 0.100, HR 1.362, 95% CI (0.943-1.967)) and 3-year overall survival(70% vs 72%, p = 0.810, HR 1.049, 95% CI (0.711-1.548)). Stratified analysis according to clinicopathologic characters showed that there were almost no statistical differences of 3-year overall survival rates between two groups, except the primary site (middle 1/3) (p =.025) and pTNM stage (IIb stage) (p =.035) in favor of FOLFOX4 group. The incidences of grade 3/4 adverse events were obviously higher in DOF group than in FOLFOX4 group,including decreased appetite (18.1% V 10.4%, P = 0.046), diarrhea (4.7% V 0%, p=0.004 ), hypersensitivity reactions to oxaliplatin (3.1% V 0%, p=0.024) and neutropenia (47.3% V 31.6%, p=0.004). Conclusions: Compared to FOLFOX4 regimen, adjuvant docetaxel plus FOLFOX4 did not show significant survival advantages in gastric cancer patients. However, a more serious toxicity profile was observed in docetaxel plus FOLFOX4 arm. Further studies are needed to decide whether triplet regimen is appropriate as adjuvant chemotherapy of gastric cancer.