Combined S-1 and cisplatin preoperative chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer: report of five cases

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A high response rate with acceptable toxicities is required in the setting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Five cases (3 stage IV, 2 stage IIIb) of advanced gastric cancer were successfully treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of a combination of S-1 and cisplatin. METHODOLOGY: All 5 patients were men younger than age 60, with no severe complications. S-1 was administered orally (80 mg/m2/day) twice daily for 21 consecutive days, and cisplatin (60 mg/m2) was infused over 2 hours on day 8 with hydration. This schedule was repeated every 5 weeks. After each cycle, the clinical response evaluation was performed with endoscopy, barium meal, and spiral CT scan. Surgery was carried out about 3 weeks after chemotherapy. RESULTS: All patients were responders (100%) after one or two cycles. However, there was no patient with either complete response, or down-staging. Toxicities, according to the WHO criteria, were very mild and none required treatment. Postoperatively one patient died of aspiration pneumonia unrelated to the chemotherapy. The others were discharged within 3 weeks after operation without complications. CONCLUSIONS: S-1 plus cisplatin seems safe and effective as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer patients.