Combination chemotherapy enhances survival of patients with unresectable gastric cancer.

Of 177 Japanese patients with a gastric cancer which could not be resected and seen at our institution during the period from 1964 to 1979, 153 were investigated with regard to the efficacy of anticancer agents, in terms of prolongation of life. The average survival time was 23 weeks in the combination chemotherapy group (57 cases), 17 weeks in the single drug chemotherapy group (42 cases) and 13 weeks in no chemotherapy group (54 cases). Three and 6 month survival rates in the overall patients were 57.1 per cent and 16.7 per cent for single drug chemotherapy group, and 37.0 per cent and 11.1 per cent for no chemotherapy group, while in the combination chemotherapy group, the rates were higher at 64.9 per cent and 29.8 per cent, respectively (combination chemotherapy vs. no chemotherapy group, p less than 0.05). In patients with peritoneal dissemination, hepatic metastasis and carcinomatous ascites, there was a significant difference in survival rates between those prescribed combination chemotherapy and those given no chemotherapy (p less than 0.05). Of 57 in the combination chemotherapy group, 6 and 9 month survival rates were 45.5 per cent and 22.7 per cent in the postoperative long-term cancer chemotherapy (PLCC) group (22 cases), such being higher than other combination chemotherapy group (35 cases), 22.9 per cent and 11.4 per cent, respectively. There was a significant difference in the survival rates between the two groups (p less than 0.05).