We wanted to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of modified FOLFOX-6 chemotherapy for treating recurrent or inoperable gastric cancer patients.

From April 2006 to August 2007, 35 patients with recurrent gastric cancer after curative resection and 43 patients with inoperable gastric cancer underwent chemotherapy, and the results were retrospectively investigated.

78 patients were assessable for response and toxicity, and they underwent an average of 7.1 cycles of chemotherapy. The response was evaluated according to the RECIST criteria. 11 partial responses (14.1%), 35 cases of stable disease (44.9%), and 32 cases of progressive disease (41%) were observed. The median time to progression was 6 months, and the average overall survival was 13 months. CTCAE grade 1 or 2 anemia (52.6%) was the most prevalent toxicity. Other common toxicities included thrombocytopenia (17.9%) and peripheral neuropathy (30.8%). There were 13 changes in the chemotherapy regimen to S1-cisplatin due to disease progression, but only an average of 1.76 cycles of S1-cisplatin were delivered due to severe toxicities and poor compliance. CONCLUSION: Acceptable efficacy and toxicity were seen as 59% of the patients showed non-progression, and no grade 3 or 4 toxicities were observed. In conclusion, the modified FOLFOX-6 chemotherapy is considered to be the proper 1st-line choice as a palliative treatment for recurrent or inoperable gastric cancer patients.