A retrospective comparison of concurrent 5-fluorouracil or oral UFT in postoperative chemoradiation for gastric adenocarcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
5-fluoro-uracil (FU) is a common agent in postoperative chemoradiation in gastric adenocarcinoma. However, FU is not well tolerated in a significant proportion of patients. UFT, a fixed combination of the oral FU prodrug tegafur with uracil, is one of the agents used instead of FU in such cases. We retrospectively compared the toxicity, local and distant control and survival rates with FU or oral UFT during concurrent radiotherapy to assess the role of UFT instead of FU.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective analysis of survival, disease control and toxicity data in 52 patients treated with postoperative chemoradiation following total or subtotal gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma with either FU or UFT between January 2003 and December 2004.


RESULTS
Median follow-up was 20 months (range: 3-59), median survival time was 23 (+/-6.08) months and 1-3 years overall survival (OS) rates were 64.9-39% for all patients. Compared with the UFT regimen, the incidence of treatment interruption was greater with FU (p=0.023), but no significant differences were seen in local control (p=0.40), distant recurrences (p=0.83) and survival rates (p=0.8657) among patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Concurrent UFT with radiotherapy seems to be a more tolerable and an equally effective regimen in the postoperative treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma when compared to FU.
Yoney
A
A
Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Department of Radiation Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey. adnan@yoney.net
Bati
Y
Y
Akboru
H
H
Isikli
L
L
Unsal
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005641:Tegafur / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014498:Uracil / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D005641:Tegafur; D014498:Uracil; D005472:Fluorouracil