[Preoperative cancer chemotherapy for gastric cancer].

Preoperative cancer chemotherapy for gastric cancer was reviewed with special emphasis on histologic findings and survival. Preoperative chemotherapy with intravenous, split administration of MMC 40 mg caused considerable damage to "micro-solitary metastatic foci" in metastatic lymph nodes. In view of the lipid-adsorbing ability of the lymphatic stream, emulsified 5-FU was used orally in 182 patients with gastric cancer; histologic findings revealed that the emulsified 5-FU enhanced the antitumor efficacy for metastatic lymph nodes as well as the primary lesion. However, the 5-year survival rate for gastric cancer patients undergoing preoperative emulsified 5-FU therapy did not differ from the control, with only the exception of patients with Stage III gastric cancer. On the other hand, combined therapy involving preoperative intra-arterial infusion and surgery was carried out in 62 patients with gastric cancer. These preoperative treatments using MMC, 5-FU, VLB, MTX and/or cytosine arabinoside entailed continuous infusion for 15 to 20 hours; the histologic changes observed revealed marked antitumor effects on the primary focus as well as metastatic lymph nodes. The five-year survival rate for the 62 patients was compared with that for 99 patients with gastric cancer in the corresponding period. The survival rate was analyzed based on the degree of serosal invasion. The overall survivals in the 62 patients were higher than those in the controls for the first 3 years. At 4 to 5 years, the survival rates for both the treated and control groups were approximately equal. In patients without serosal invasion, the survival rates were higher in treated cases than in the controls for the first 2 years. Thirty-nine patients with serosal invasion had significantly higher survival rates than the controls for the first 3 years. The survival rates for the treated patients with cancerous infiltration of ther organs were about the same as those for the corresponding control patients.