Survival and prognosticators of gastric cancer that recurs after adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1

Abstract

Background: Some patients experience a recurrence of cancer even after curative D2 gastrectomy followed by adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy. The objective of this retrospective study was to clarify the survival and prognosticators in these patients. Methods: The study selected patients who underwent curative D2 surgery, were diagnosed with stage II, IIIA, or IIIB cancer, received adjuvant S-1 for more than 4 weeks, and experienced recurrence confirmed by an imaging study. Results: A total of 34 patients were evaluated. The median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the 26 patients who received palliative chemotherapy than that in the 8 who did not (8.5 vs. 2.5 months, P = 0.002). Only 1 patient received S-1, 21 received taxane-containing regimens, and 4 received irinotecan plus cisplatin as the first-line chemotherapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the histological type was only independent significant prognosticator. Conclusions: These results suggested that the survival did not reach the level expected for first-line chemotherapy. The histological type was a significant prognosticator in patients who experienced recurrence after adjuvant S-1 therapy and thereafter received palliative chemotherapy. © 2011 The International Gastric Cancer Association and The Japanese Gastric Cancer Association.