Systemic Therapy for Advanced Gastric Cancer: a Clinical Practice Guideline

Question: What is the optimal chemotherapy regimen in advanced gastric cancer?

Perspectives: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Despite low incidence rates for gastric cancer in Ontario, the overall prognosis is bleak, with 5-year survival rates of approximately 23% in Canada. Even with the considerable body of research available on chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer, uncertainty remains. There is no recognized standard treatment, and there appears to be geographic variation in practice.

Outcomes: Outcomes of interest were overall survival, objective response rate (complete plus partial responses), time to disease progression, adverse effects, and quality of life.

Methodology: After a systematic review, a practice guideline containing clinical recommendations relevant to patients in Ontario was drafted. The practice guideline was reviewed and approved by the Gastrointestinal Disease Site Group (gi dsg) and the Report Approval Panel of the Program in Evidence-Based Care. External review by Ontario practitioners was obtained through a survey, the results of which were incorporated into the practice guideline.

Practice Guideline: The gi dsg makes the following recommendations: To improve survival, a platinum agent should be included in any combination chemotherapy regimen.Within a combination chemotherapy regimen, oral capecitabine is preferred over intravenous 5-fluorouracil (5fu)-that is, epirubicin-cisplatin-capecitabine is preferred over the prior standard regimen, epirubicin-cisplatin-5fu (ecf).Epirubicin-oxaliplatin-capecitabine (eox) is a reasonable alternative to ecf. The choice between ecf and eox should be based on patient preference.Trastuzumab in combination with cisplatin and a fluoropyrimidine (5fu or oral capecitabine) is recommended for advanced gastric cancer positive for the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (her2/neu).