Chemotherapy of advanced gastric carcinoma.

The results of current chemotherapeutic treatment for advanced gastric carcinoma are reviewed. Recent results of phase-II trials suggest that besides 5-fluorouracil, the nitrosoureas, adriamycin and mitomycin C, cis-platinum is also an effective drug in advanced gastric carcinoma. The favorable results obtained with the FAM-regimen in the late seventies, which were believed to be a significant step towards an improved treatment of gastric carcinoma, could not be confirmed, and several tested FAM-modifications were not able to improve treatment results. However, some recent investigations of cis-platinum within combination chemotherapy, i.e. with 5-fluorouracil and adriamycin (FAP), showed response rates beyond 30% and possibly a prolongation of median survival. These favorable data, which suggest an encouraging progress within the treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma, have to be confirmed in further controlled clinical trials.