ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Five-day regimen of FP (5-fluorouracil, cis-platinum) combination chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer is one of the popular regimens with approximate 40% of response rate in many series of clinical trials. This study was designed to assess the therapeutic effect and toxicity of three days regimen of FP combination chemotherapy instead of five days regimen for disseminated or recurrent gastric cancer. METHODS: From July 1996 through July 2000, 32 patients with inoperable or recurrent gastric cancer were enrolled in the study. The regimen consisted of continuous 12-hour infusion of 5-FU 1000 mg/m2/day plus bolus infusion of cisplatin 25 mg/m2/day for 3 days. The treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. RESULTS: Thirty patients were evaluable for response with a median follow up of 27 months. No one entered complete remission. There were 9 partial responses with the response rate of 30%. Median overall survival duration was 9.1 months. It was longer in responders than that in non-responders .(20.5 months vs 8.0 months, p<0.01) Toxicity was acceptable with no treatment related mortality. Toxicities in grade 3 or more included neutropenia in 5% and vomiting in 10% throughout a total of 160 treatment courses with no febrile episode. CONCLUSION : These results revealed that the toxicity of 3 day regimen of 5-FU and cisplatin is acceptable and the efficacy comparable to that of 5 day regimen.