Background: There is a great need for effective outpatient chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer in patients with good performance status. The present pilot study evaluated the use of combination chemotherapy with S-1 and fractional CDDP for unresectable-recurrent gastric cancer in an outpatient setting.
Patients and methods: A total of 41 patients with unresectable or recurrent gastric cancer were treated with this combination chemotherapy. S-1 was administered orally every day on days 1-28 and CDDP was infused on days 1, 15, and 29.
Results: Thirty-six patients had measurable lesions and 19 patients had partial responses, resulting in an overall response rate of 52.8%. The median survival time was 494 days. There was no grade 4 haematological toxicity, no grade 3 or more non-haematological toxicity, and no treatment-related death.
Conclusion: This combination chemotherapy has no serious toxicities in patients with unresectable and recurrent gastric cancer and can be used effectively in an outpatient setting.