INTRAOPERATIVE RADIOTHERAPY COMBINED WITH ADJUVANT CHEMORADIOTHERAPY FOR LOCALLY ADVANCED GASTRIC ADENOCARCINOMA

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) followed by concurrent chemotherapy and external beam RT (EBRT) in the treatment of locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma. Methods and Materials: A total of 97 consecutive and nonselected patients with newly diagnosed Stage T3, T4, or N+ adenocarcinoma of the stomach underwent gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection between March 2003 and October 2005. Of the 97 patients, 51 received adjuvant concurrent chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, docetaxel, and cisplatin) and EBRT(EBRT group) and 46 received IORT dose range, 12-15 Gy) immediately after gastrectomy and lymph node dissection before concurrent chemoradiotherapy (EBRT+IORT group). Results: After a median follow-up of 24 months, the 3-year locoregional control rate was 77% and 63% in the two groups with or without IORT, respectively (p = 0.05). The 3-year overall survival and disease-free survival rate was 47% and 36% in the EBRT group and 56% and 44% in the EBRT+IORT group, respectively (p > 0.05). Multivariate analyses revealed that the use of IORT, presence of residual disease after surgery, and pN category were independent prognostic factors for locoregional control and that IORT, pN, and pT categories were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (p < 0.05). Four patients experienced Grade 3 or 4 late complications, but no significant difference was observed between the two groups. Conclusions: Radical gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection and IORT followed by adjuvant chemoradiotherapy appeared to be feasible and well-tolerated in the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer. The addition of IORT to the trimodality treatment significantly improved the 3-year locoregional control rate. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc.