OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical effect of postoperative arterial infusion chemotherapy and systemic chemotherapy in gastric cancer.

METHODSFrom July 1997 to July 2002, the patients undergoing radical gastric resection were randomly divided into two groups, and received systemic or arterial infusion chemotherapy three weeks after radical resection. Systemic chemotherapy was carried out for two courses with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), pirarubicin (THP), and mitomycin (MMC) administered according to FAM program, while arterial infusion chemotherapy for four courses with the same anticancer drugs infused via the celiac artery. The outcomes were compared.

RESULTSSystemic chemotherapy was carried out in 188 cases, and arterial infusion chemotherapy in 180 cases. There were no significant differences in sex, age, tumor location, histological type, TNM stage and surgical procedure between the two groups (P > 0.05). The 1, 3, 5 year survival rates were 87.2%, 53.7% and 43.1% in systemic chemotherapy, and 93.3%, 72.2% and 53.6% in arterial infusion chemotherapy respectively (P< 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe survival rate of the patients with arterial infusion chemotherapy is higher than that with systemic chemotherapy, which indicates that arterial infusion chemotherapy can remarkably improve the prognosis of the patients with gastric cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Chemotherapy, Cancer, Regional Perfusion ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Infusions, Intra-Arterial ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Period ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy