Efficacy of Immunochemotherapy as Adjuvant Treatment after Curative Resection of Gastric Cancer

Authors: Hiroaki Nakazato, Akihiko Koike, Shigetoyo Saji, Nobuya Ogawa, Junichi Sakamoto, for the Study Group of Immunochemotherapy with PSK for Gastric Cancer

Journal: Lancet

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial

Participants: 262 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Trial Length: Minimum follow-up time of 5 years (range 5-7 years)

Intervention:

• Standard treatment group: Mitomycin C and fluorouracil
• Standard treatment plus PSK group: Mitomycin C, fluorouracil, and PSK (protein-bound polysaccharide)

Primary Outcomes: 5-year disease-free rate and 5-year survival rate

Summary: The study investigated the efficacy of adding PSK to standard chemotherapy (mitomycin C and fluorouracil) as adjuvant treatment after curative resection of gastric cancer. The results showed that the addition of PSK significantly improved both the 5-year disease-free rate (70.7% vs 59.4%, p=0.047) and the 5-year survival rate (73.0% vs 60.0%, p=0.044) compared to standard treatment alone. The treatments were well-tolerated with only minor side effects, and there were no significant differences in toxicity between the two groups. The study concludes that adding PSK to adjuvant chemotherapy is beneficial for patients who have undergone curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer.