Adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy for gastric carcinoma

Between July 1974 and August 1978, 78 patients were entered into a study to assess the effect of immune stimulation with bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) on gastric carcinoma. Patients were selected in random fashion for the two treatment regimens; 41 received BCG and 5-fluorouracil and 37 received 5-fluorouracil alone. Initial results, after a mean follow-up of 72 weeks, are presented. Immunotherapy as used in this study did not affect survival. However, 5-fluorouracil given as an adjuvant to palliative resection did improve survival when compared with a matched control group in which patients received no additional treatment after palliative resection. Although this finding will have to be studied further by multicentre randomized prospective trials, our experience indicates that incurable gastric carcinoma should be managed more aggressively.