Objective To observe the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel combined with leucovorin/5- fluorouracil continuous infusion in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Methods 26 patients with a histologic diagnosis of advanced gastric cancer were observed. The chemotherapy regimen comprised of PTX 135 mg/m2 infusion for 3 hours, LV 200 mg/m2 infusion for 2 hours followed by 10 minutes intravenous infusion of 5- Fu 375 mg/m2, then 120 hours infusion of 5- Fu 3.0 g/m2 with an ambulatory pump, repeated every 3 weeks. All patients were received at least two cycles of treatment. Results All the cases could be evaluated. The total response rate was 46.2 %. Two obtained complete remission (CR) (7.7 %). The major toxic side effects were neutropenia, nausea, vomiting, mucositis, alopecia, arthralgia, myalgia and cardiac toxic reaction, but were tolerable. Conclusions The combination of paclitaxel and 5- Fu continuous infusion is an effective and tolerable regimen in the treatment of gastric cancer.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of megace (MA) on the survival condition of cancer patients in chemotherapy (CT) periods.Methods92 patients with cancer were divided into the MA group (treated with MA+CT) and control group (treated only with CT). The changing of the appetite, normal food amount, weight, gastrointestinal reaction and whole body conditions of two groups were evaluated.ResultsIn the MA group, 52.2% patients had appetite improvement, 47.8% had more food amount, 45.7% gained more weight, 50% had no obvious gastrointestinal reaction such as vomiting and nausea, and 50% had improve the survival condition according to the Karnofsky performance status (KPS) scores (increment >10). In the control group, only 6.5% had appetite improvement, 4.3% had more food amount, 13% gained more weight, 28.3% had no vomiting and nausea, and 15.2% had improved the survival condition. There was a significant difference between two groups (P<0.01).ConclusionMegace is able to reduce nausea and vomiting caused by CT, improve appetite, increase patients weight, protect bone marrow from the inhibition of CT, improve the life quality of cancer patients, and has no evident side-effects.