title: Postoperative chemoradiotherapy versus postoperative chemotherapy for completely resected gastric cancer with D2 Lymphadenectomy: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Both chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy are used in postoperative adjuvant therapy for resected gastric cancer. However, it is controversial whether chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy is the optimal strategy for patients with gastric cancer after D2 lymphadenectomy. The present meta-analysis aims to provide more evidence on the relative benefits of adjuvant therapies in this setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials, extracted time-to-event data using Tierney methods (when not reported), and performed meta-analysis to obtain the relative hazards of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy to chemotherapy on efficacy and toxicities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 895 patients from 3 randomized controlled trials were identified for this meta-analysis. All patients were from Asian countries. Our results showed that postoperative chemoradiotherapy significantly improved locoregional recurrence-free survival [LRRFS: hazard ratio (HR) = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.32-0.87, p = 0.01] and disease-free survival (DFS: HR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.59-0.89, p = 0.002); however, the improvement of distant metastasis recurrence-free survival (DMRFS: HR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.66-1.11, p = 0.25) and overall survival (OS: HR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.61-1.03, p = 0.08) were non-significant. The main grade 3 or 4 toxicities were equivalent between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In non-selected Asian patients with resected gastric cancer who underwent D2 lymphadenectomy, postoperative chemoradiotherapy improved LRRFS and DFS but might not improve OS compared to postoperative chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of VIP, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Si-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yan-Xian
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: De-Rong
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D059186:Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000379:methods*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000379:methods*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011184:Postoperative Period; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery