Effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on advanced gastric cancer before radical gastrectomy

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on advanced gastric cancer before laparoscopic radical gastrectomy.Methods 46 advanced gastric cancer cases in our hospital from January 2010 to January 2013 were included in experimental group who were given two courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX regimen prior to surgery,the responsives (38 cases) received two more courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery,and those in whom the chemotherapy was judged as ineffective (8 cases),received radical gastrectomy 21 days later.As a control,36 diseasematched cases went on upfront surgery without neoadjuvant chemotherapy.All these 82 cases underwent successful laparoscopic gastrectomy.Results The overall effective rate of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was 59％.Before the operation,the differences of pathological staging between the two groups were significantly different; The difference in operation time,the intraoperative blood loss and harvested lymph node number between the experimental group and control group was not statistically different (P ＞ 0.05).The R0 resection rate in experimental group (63％) was higher than in the control group (36％),P ＜0.05.The recurrence rate and mortality rate in experimental group was lower than that in the control group,P ＜ 0.05.Conclusions In advanced gastric carcinoma preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved the resection rate and reduced postoperative recurrence and mortality rate. Key words: Stomach neoplasms ; Chemotherapy, adjuvant; Laparoscopes