[Recurrence and survival rate of advanced gastric cancer after preoperative EAP-II intra-arterial infusion therapy].

Ninety-eight patients with advanced gastric cancers underwent gastrectomy from Jan. 1989 to Dec. 1991. For these patients, preoperative intra-arterial injection therapy using EAP-II (etoposide 100 mg, epirubicin 20 mg, carboplatin 100 mg) was given to 24 patients. In this report, the recurrence and survival rate of these patients were investigated. After curative resection, the survival rate of patients with EAP-II 36 months after operation was 76.9%, while that of patients without EAP-II was 78.6%. There were no significant differences between these two groups. Two peritoneal carcinomatoses and two liver metastases were seen in patients with EAP-II (recurrence rate, 30.7%). Eight recurrences were observed in patients without preoperative injection therapy (peritoneal dissemination, 4; local recurrence, 3; lymph node recurrence, 1). Previously, we reported that drugs were remarkably accumulated in gastric cancer tissue and regional lymph nodes after EAP-II intra-arterial injection therapy. This high accumulation might cause no local or lymph node recurrence was seen in patient with EAP-II. Thus, it was concluded that preoperative EAP-II intra-arterial injection may prevent local and lymph node recurrences, and that further study of the combination and dose of anti-cancer drug needed to improve the postoperative survival rate in advanced gastric cancer patients.