Perioperative treatments for resectable gastric cancer

Abstract

Although surgical resection remains the only curative treatment for gastric cancer, locoregional and distant recurrence are still common after surgical resection with curative intent underscoring the importance of a multimodal approach. In recent decades, there have been notable improvements in multidisciplinary treatments for gastric cancer that influence clinical decision and treatment algorithms; these include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Notably, multimodal and multidisciplinary approaches to gastric cancer have developed in various ways according to geographical regions in the context of variations in disease incidence, etiology/epidemiology, clinical features, and treatment outcome. Differences in surgical techniques, curative resection rate, survival outcomes after curative resection, and relapse patterns between the East and West lead to different perioperative multidisciplinary strategies. In Western countries, low rates of curative resection and high rates of locoregional recurrence following suboptimal surgery, in addition to systemic spread after surgery, provide a rationale for perioperative chemotherapy (preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy) and postoperative chemoradiation. In contrast, Eastern countries have focused on reducing systemic failures by emphasizing postoperative chemotherapy after curative resection. To further improve perioperative treatment in localized gastric cancer, more sophisticated risk stratification and novel therapeutic strategies such as molecularly targeted agents need to be investigated, based on an understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of the disease.