title: Pemetrexed for previously treated patients with metastatic gastric cancer: a prospective phase II study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. There were debates on the value of the second-line and beyond chemotherapy by the time we designed this trial. So we designed this phase II trial to assess the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed in patients with pretreated metastatic gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four patients with pretreated metastatic gastric cancer were enroled in the study. Patients received pemetrexed 500 mg m(-2) every 21 days until the presence of progressive disease (PD) or unacceptable toxicity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 34 patients were enroled in the study; 34 were eligible for toxicity and 30 for response. The response rate was 13.3%, 13.3% patients achieved a partial response, 50.0% achieved stable disease and 36.7% had a PD as the best response. The median overall survival time and median progression-free survival time was 6.4 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 5.8-9.5 months) and 2.2 months (95% CI 2.0-5.5 months), respectively. Most haematologic and non-haematologic toxicity were grade 1/2. Grade 3/4 toxicity included fatigue, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, weight loss, anorexia and transaminase elevation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The monochemotherapy of pemetrexed is active and well tolerated when used in previously treated patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: M Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005971:Glutamates / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006147:Guanine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D005971:Glutamates; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D006147:Guanine