Adjuvant Capecitabine Plus Oxaliplatin Following D2 Gastrectomy May Be Effective for Gastric Cancer

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, adjuvant capecitabine in combination with oxaliplatin after undergoing a D2 gastrectomy is a viable option for patients with operable stage 2 or 3 gastric cancer.

For the phase 3, open-label CLASSIC trial, researchers sought to investigate whether adjuvant capecitabine plus oxaliplatin compared with observation after D2 gastrectomy improves survival in patients with stage 2 or 3 gastric cancer.

Researchers randomly assigned 1,035 patients with stage 2-3B gastric cancer who underwent curative D2 gastrectomy to receive either adjuvant chemotherapy or observation. Participants that received chemotherapy received eight 3-week cycles of capecitabine 1,000mg/m2 twice daily for 2 weeks and oxaliplatin 130mg/m2 on day 1.

Results showed that 27% of patients in the adjuvant chemotherapy group achieved a 3-year disease-free survival compared with 39% among those that received observation only (HR = 0.58, 95% CI, 0.47 - 0.72; P < 0.0001).

Among those in the chemotherapy group, 68% were estimated to achieve a 5-year disease-free survival versus 53% in the observation group. Estimated 5-year overall survival rates were 78% and 69% in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and observation group, respectively.