Metastatic Gastric Cancer Treatment: Implications of Disease Biology

摘要

Gastric cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with the highest incidence rates in East Asia. During the past 2 decades, there has been some progress in the development of cytotoxic chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Currently, the most popular first-line chemotherapy is the combination of fluoropyrimidine and platinum. On top of that, in some parts of the world, an anthracycline or a taxane is added. Recently, the benefit of second-line chemotherapy has been proven by phase III trials. However, the overall survival of patients with AGC remains stagnant at 10 to 12 months with cytotoxic chemotherapy.