Background and purpose:Gastric cancer is one of the common malignancies seen in our country, most patients were diagnosed at a late stage. Surgery remains as one of the main treatments for the patients but the local local and regional failures were still high. The importance of the role of chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been investigated in the treatment of gastric cancer.We evaluated the efficacy and side-effects of CPT-11 combined with capecitabine for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Methods:Since May 2004 to May 2006, twenty patients with pathologically proved gastric cancer have been treated by CPT-11 plus capecitabine in our hospital. The regimen consisted of CPT-11 120 mg/m2 infusion at 1st day and 8th day, capecitabine 1000 mg/(m2?d) twice a day from 1st-14th day . The cycles were repeated every three weeks. All the patients were planned to receive at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy.Results:In 20 evaluable patients, 1 case had complete response; 8 case had partial response; 6 case had stable disease and 5 case with progressive disease. The response rate of the whole group was 45.0%(9/20); Clinical tumor control rate was 75.0%(15/20). The major toxicities were bone marrow suppression (52.1%) and reactions relative to digestive system (35.2%). All of complications were RTOGⅠ/Ⅱ degree.Conclusions:Combination of CPT-11 and capecitabine is effective for advanced gastric cancer and well tolerated by the patients. For the patients with either old age, poor general status or relapse after other chemotherapeutic regimen, the regimen could be the one of choice.