Chemoradiotherapy after Surgery Compared with Surgery Alone for Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach or Gastroesophageal Junction

This large trial shows that postoperative chemoradiotherapy can increase survival after gastric resection. The curative treatment of stomach cancer requires gastric resection. 1 However, most patients are not cured by this surgery. A review of data from the National Cancer Data Base on 50,169 patients in the United States who underwent gastrectomy between 1985 and 1996 found a 10-year survival rate of 65 percent among patients with stage IA disease (tumor confined to the gastric mucosa), but the 10-year survival rates among those with more advanced disease ranged from 3 percent to 42 percent, depending on the extent of disease. 2 The high rate of relapse after resection makes it important to consider adjuvant treatment . . .