Gastric carcinoma in China: Current status and future perspectives (Review)

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequently occurring cancers in China, with an estimated 380,000 new cases each year, accounting for more than 40% of the worldwide annual cancer incidence. There is geographical clustering of the distribution of gastric cancer in China, with most of the high-risk areas being rural. D2 resection is the standard lymphadenectomy for curative resection in China, but more extensive lymphadenectomy is conducted for selected patients. Perioperative chemotherapy, postoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy can be combined with surgery. It remains uncertain which option is best, but if surgery is insufficient, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy is recommended. In the palliative setting, although there is no standard first-line chemotherapy, regimens based on taxane, oxaliplatin or capecitabine, or the epirubicin, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil regimen and its modifications are the most common options selected by Chinese oncologists. Several studies to evaluate target therapy are ongoing, but it is too early to draw any conclusions. However, the development of target therapy is likely to become a milestone in the treatment of gastric cancer.