Post-recurrence survival in patiënten met stage III gastric cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy; post-hoc analy...

BACKGROUND: As adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III gastric cancer, the phase III (JACCRO GC-07) trial showed that docetaxel plus S-1 (DS) was superior to S-1 in terms of recurrence-free and overall survival. However, whether adding docetaxel to S-1 in the adjuvant setting affects survival after recurrence remains unclear. The optimal treatment strategy for patients who develop recurrence during or after DS has also been controversial. METHODS: We used results from JACCRO GC-07 to investigate post-recurrence survival (PRS) in patients who developed recurrence during or after completing adjuvant chemotherapy. PRS was compared between adjuvant groups and among post-recurrence chemotherapeutic regimens. RESULTS: During 5 years of follow-up after surgery, 161 of 441 patients in the DS group and 216 of 452 patients in the S-1 group developed recurrence, with median PRS of 12.6 and 11.4 months, respectively (hazard ratio [HR] 0.98, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.79-1.22; p = 0.84). Among patients with recurrence, 115 patients in the DS group and 165 patients in the S-1 group received chemotherapy, and median PRS was 14.5 and 13.7 months, respectively (HR 1.04, 95 %CI 0.81-1.34; p = 0.76). Platinum-based chemotherapy resulted in longer PRS than non-platinum chemotherapy, regardless of the adjuvant chemotherapeutic regimen or time of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: PRS was similar between patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy with DS or with S-1 alone. PRS was also similar between groups of patients who received chemotherapy after recurrence. Platinum-based chemotherapy might be the optimal treatment for patients who develop recurrence after completing adjuvant DS, regardless of the time of recurrence.