Postoperative chemotherapy in gastric cancer, consisting of etoposide, doxorubicin and cisplatin, followed by radiotherapy with concomitant cisplatin: A feasibility study.

The prognosis following surgical treatment of gastric carcinoma (GC) or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma remains poor. Although adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy with 5-fluorouracil has been shown to be beneficial, a high rate of distant failure has been reported. Thus, the toxicity profile and efficacy of an intensified chemo-radiotherapy regimen following complete or near-complete resection of GC was evaluated. Patients who underwent surgery for GC were eligible for evaluation. Treatment consisted of four cycles of modified EAP: etoposide 100 mg/m(2), days 1-3; cisplatin 27 mg/m(2), days 1-3; and adriamycin 40 mg/m(2), day 1; every 21 days, followed by a course of radiotherapy (45 Gy; 1.8 Gy/fr) combined with weekly cisplatin 40 mg/m(2). In total, 40 patients were included in the analysis. Median follow-up was 34 months from the onset of chemotherapy. Microscopic stage IV disease and/or R1 resection were found in 11 patients. For these patients, the median progression-free survival was 6.5 months, and overall survival 9.5 months, compared to 25 and 54 months, respectively, for the remaining 29 patients. In the latter subgroup, longer disease-free survival was associated with average dose intensity of >90% for the four cycles of EAP. The predominant grade 3-4 toxicities during EAP-chemotherapy were hematological adverse events. Nevertheless, the rate of severe non-hematologic toxicity reached 60%. There was one toxicity-related mortality. During the chemo-radiotherapy course, 39% of patients experienced grade 3-4 non-hematologic toxicities. It was concluded that the high toxicity rate of this regimen does not justify further evaluation of this postoperative protocol. Chemo-radiotherapy for R1 or pathological microscopic M1 patients does not appear to be justified.