Hemostatic palliative radiotherapy for gastric cancer: A literature review

•Palliative radiotherapy is rarely used for the treatment of gastric cancer.•Standard treatment for inoperable advanced gastric cancer is not established yet.•Low doses of approximately BED10 of 30 Gy (EQD2 of 24 Gy) exert hemostatic effects.•Three prospective trials have been reported and more prospective trials are needed. Gastric cancer has a high prevalence in Asia and may only be diagnosed in advanced stages. Therefore, patients with gastric cancer may experience fatal symptoms, such as bleeding or stenosis at the time of consultation. In this review, we aimed to describe the effectiveness and toxicity of hemostatic radiotherapy (RT). A total of 17 retrospective and 3 prospective studies were analyzed. The prescription dose, biologically effective dose, equivalent dose in 2 Gy fractions, response rate, survival prognosis, and toxicities were also reported. Using 20 studies, the following observations were made the hemostatic effect was ∼ 80 %, the mean survival time after irradiation was about 3 months, and prescribed doses of 30 Gy/10 fractions and 20 Gy/5 fractions were considered suitable. In this review, studies on hemostatic irradiation have been summarized, and the most optimal treatment method has been proposed. 30 Gy/10 fractions and 20 Gy/5 fractions were ideal. However, because palliative RT is preferably completed within a short period of time, a randomized trial is needed to determine whether the 8 Gy/single fraction treatment is equivalent to fractionated RT. Therefore, more prospective studies are warranted to establish a standard of care for palliative RT in gastric cancer.