[Evaluation of adjuvant immunochemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer]

Evaluation of adjuvant immunochemotherapy using Polysaccharide K (PSK) for advanced gastric cancers was performed by meta-analysis of 6 clinical trials in which 5-year survival has been reported in distinguished journals of Japan. The odds ratio of 0.75 (95% confidence interval 0.62-0.93, p < 0.01) favored immunochemotherapy compared to chemotherapy. In the Chubu district, 3 consecutive trials using PSK were performed beginning in 1977. From meta-analysis of the 2 preceding trials, immunochemotherapy was suggested to be effective in a subgroup of T2 and T3 primary tumor, and PPD skin test positive cases. The third trial was performed in this group of patients and a statistically significant difference (p = 0.044) was observed from the 5-year results.