Chemotherapy for operable gastric cancer: current perspectives

The majority of gastric cancer patients present with advanced, incurable disease and only a minority have localised disease that is suitable for radical treatment. A benefit has generally been demonstrated from adding chemotherapy to surgery for early disease though there are marked differences in how this is done globally. Whilst a perioperative approach, with chemotherapy given before and after gastric surgery is commonly used in the Europe and Australia most patients with operable gastric cancer in North America are treated with surgery and postoperative chemoradiation. In contrast, in East Asia, adjuvant fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy alone is used following D2 gastric resection surgery. However, despite the multimodality treatments, outcomes remain suboptimal as the majority of those treated for localised disease eventually relapse with incurable loco-regional or distant metastases. At the current time, an unmet need exists to further understand the biology of this aggressive disease and develop more efficacious therapies that can improve outcomes from this aggressive disease.