Efficacy and Toxicity of Cisplatin and Capecitabine Combination in the First-Line Treatment of Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer: A Multicenter Study by the Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology

Abstract

Gastric cancer is an important public health problem which comprises 10% of all cancers and 12% of all cancer related deaths all over the world. Because of the differences in patient populations and treatment schemes in various studies, standard practice for advanced stage gastric cancer has not been fully established. The aim of this study was to assess the use of cisplatin and capecitabine combination regimen in real-world clinical practice. Medical records of 76 male and 37 female metastatic gastric cancer patients treated with first-line cisplatin and capecitabine combination between February 2006 and December 2009 were retrospectively analyzed in 11 centers of the Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology. Patients previously treated with chemotherapy were excluded from the analysis. The median age of the patients was 64 years (range, 28-83). Seventy-six (67.2%) patients were males and 37 (32.7%) females. Most of the patients were metastatic (n= 85, 75.2%) at the time of initial diagnosis. The most common sites for metastasis were liver (65.9%), lung (11.3%), peritoneum (23.8%) and local recurrence (15.9%) with multiple metastases in 9.7% of the patients. The mean follow-up period of all patients was 41 months (range 12-61). Overall response rates was 33.6%, while disease control rate (DCR) was 72.6 %. Median Progression-free survival was 4.7 months (95% CI 3.75-6.49) and median overall survival was 11.1 months (95% CI 5.58-10.98). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events were anemia (8.3%), nausea-vomiting (3.8%) and diarrhea (1.8%). In terms of efficacy, toxicity and convenience, cisplatin and capecitabine combination is effective and well tolerated in Turkish patients with advanced gastric cancer, and could be one of the standard regimens for the first-line treatment in this cohort.