Background: To date, the long-term outcomes of patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC) who achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant therapy are elusive. To evaluate the impact of pCR on the long-term survival of LAGC patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy and evaluate the necessity of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of clinicopathological and survival data of patients who achieved a pCR after neoadjuvant therapy and resection at the China National Cancer Center between January 2007 and December 2018.
Results: Ultimately, 39 patients enrolled in the current study, with a median follow-up time was 30.4 (range 2.5-101.6) months. The 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 88.9% and 88.9%, respectively. And the 3- and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 88.9% and 88.9%, respectively. During the follow-up, recurrence was observed in 3 patients. Of all 39 patients, 51.3% (n=20) received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and 48.7% (n=19) did not. There was no significant difference in OS (P=0.48) and DFS (P=0.47) between patients who underwent postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and patients who did not.
Conclusions: Patients with LAGC who achieved a pCR after neoadjuvant therapy and resection might have a favorable OS and DFS. Our study failed to demonstrate the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for those patients.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC); neoadjuvant therapy; pathological complete response (pCR); postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.
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