Evaluation of Chemotherapy for Locally Unresectable Gastric Cancer

The effect of chemotherapy on locally unresectable gastric cancerwas evaluated on the basis of survival. The result showed asignificant effect of chemotherapy in the six-month survivalrate. Chemotherapy prolonged survival by at most two months.The result favored three major regimens, i.e., the FAMT (5-fluorouracil,cyclophosphamide, mitomycin C and chromomycin A³) combination,l-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil (Ftorafur) alone and intra-aorticinfusion of 5-FU, as compared with the controls. However, survivalwas not very different among these regimens. In respect to factorscontrolling the background of gastric cancer, the effect ofchemotherapy was high in the cases in which the S (serosal involvement)and N (lymph node involvement) factors were dominant withoutthe association of the P (peritoneal dissemination) or H (hepaticmetastasis) factor. The participation of H factor resulted inthe worst prognosis, the patients receiving little help fromchemotherapy. Patients with P factor occasionally survived longer,especially with subsequent chemotherapy.