Reflections on adjuvant treatment of gastric cancer

Albert Abad, José Luis Manzano, Cristina Martí

Servicio de Oncología Médica (Medical Oncology Service), Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO) Badalona, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: Gastric cancer constitutes a significant health problem in the world due to its high incidence in certain geographical areas. The basic treatment of this tumor in its localized stages is surgery. Unfortunately, survival is less than 5 years, despite radical surgery. Radical and extensive surgery has proved to be crucial to survival, although there is no agreement on the need for reaching the nodes until there is more than 3 cm of tumor. However, even with the most extensive surgery, survival does not reach more than approximately 35% at 5 years, if we consider all the localized stages. Adjuvant treatment is therefore necessary for this neoplasm. The role of post-operative chemotherapy, as that of radiochemotherapy, is not well established and there is no standard. However, there is relative evidence of the benefit of adjuvant treatment in some chemotherapy studies and in combination with radiotherapy, so that it is an option for treatment in these patients.

Keywords: gastric cancer, adjuvant, chemotherapy, radiotherapy