[Evaluation of postoperative longterm chemotherapy against gastric cancer]

The combination of surgery with chemotherapy is mandatory to get a higher survival rate in gastric cancer. A study on adjuvant chemotherapy must be conducted in a setting of controlled trial and include a sufficient number of cases to yield statistically significant evaluation. The Cooperative Study Group of Surgical Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer in Japan including 297 hospitals initiated its operation in 1975. The first study with cases revealed that the protocol consisting bolus intravenous injection of MMC plus oral administration of Futraful for 3 months was effective in improving 5-year survival of gastric cancer patients with stages III and IV and, for those with a positive metastasis into the lymph nodes, with obvious serosal invasion (n(+)ps. (+). This cooperative study group has been expanded in a form of The Japanese Foundation of Multi-disciplinary Treatment of Cancer in 1980. The study on efficacy of adjuvant immunochemotherapy for gastric cancer is on-going.