RESUMO
PURPOSE: The surgical resection has been still the only curative treatment modality for the gastric cancer, but the overall prognosis has not been so satisfactory because of high relapse rate. So the necessity of adjuvant chemotherapy has been increased. We evaluated the effect of MLF (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin and mitomycin C) regimen on the prevention of relapse and survival benefit after postopertive adjuvant chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The MLF regimen consisted of 5-FU 375 mg/m2 IV on days 1 through 5; LV 20 mg/m2 IV just before 5-FU infusion on days 1 through 5; and MMC 9 mg/m2 IV on day 1 (7 mg/m2 from the 2nd cycle). RESULTS: One hundred patients were entered into the trial; 56 were male & 44 female, and the range of age was 20 to 82. The total number of chemotherapy cycles was 514. According to AJCC staging, 4 cases were in stage IA, 14 IB, 23 II, 42 IIIA, 15 IIIB, respectively and 2 cases were in stage IV. The estimated median survival was 32 months in stage IIIA, and 28 months in IIIB. The 5 year survival was 90% in stage IB, 76% in II, 29.6% in IIIA and 21.8% in IIIB. Severe neutropenia (WHO grade > or = 3) was observed in 11.8%, and throbocytopenia 0.4%. Severe nausea and vomiting was observed in 1.8%, diarrhea in 1.7%, and mucositis in 1.5%, but there was no toxic death. CONCLUSION: The MLF adjuvant chemotherapy may be effective for resectable gastric cancer with minimal toxicities, but phase III study is needed to confirm its efficacy.