[Adjuvant therapy of gastric cancer in the literature from 1980-1984].

A literature survey was conducted regarding adjuvant therapy for surgical cases of gastric cancer. A total of 66 papers published on a world wide basis in the 5 years from 1980 through 1984 were collected. Forty-three papers (65%) were published by Japanese researchers, of which only 17 were written in English. Adjuvant therapy was regarded as being effective in about 60% of the papers. The main drugs achieving effective adjuvant chemotherapy were mitomycin C (M), 5-FU (F), Tegafur, MF, and MFC(M+F+cytosine arabinoside). The cases yielding an effective result were mainly patients who had undergone radical surgery for stage II or III gastric cancer. The doses used for adjuvant chemotherapy were slightly less than the doses used for chemotherapy of advanced gastric cancer in internal medicine. The incidences of adverse effects of the adjuvant chemotherapy were almost the same as those encountered in internal medicine, and severe complications occasionally developed. Some recent reports observed that efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy was increased by intensive therapy in the immediate postoperative period and by maintenance therapy over the long term.