[A new therapeutic approach to advanced and recurrent gastric cancer by TS-1]

In the present study, we demonstrate the treatment results of TS-1 on 22 gastric carcinoma patients (15 far advanced and 7 recurrent patients) from June 1999 to December 2000. TS-1 was administered at 75 mg/m2/day, twice daily per body for 28 days followed by a 14-day interval (1 cycle). Successful treatment was obtained in from 1 to 11 cycles, and we obtained 9 (47.4%) partial responses (PR), 7 stable disease (NC) and progressive disease (PD) among 19 evaluable patients. PR was obtained in 7 (58.3%) out of 12 primary lesions of the stomach. We also obtained 1 CR of liver metastasis and 4 PR of 9 distant lymph node metastases (44.4%). Moreover, malignant ascites disappeared in 4 (57.1%) out of 7 cases and PR was obtained in 3 (50%) out of 6 measurable cases of peritoneal disease. In addition, two patients had hydronephrosis which improved after 1 cycle of TS-1 treatment. The adverse effects observed were grade 3 bone marrow suppression in three cases, severe diarrhea in one case, one case of liver dysfunction and a few cases of nausea and vomiting. These results indicate that the oral tegafur compound, TS-1, is a new therapeutic tools for advanced and recurrent gastric carcinomas, especially peritoneal disease.