The Effect of Lentinan Combination Therapy for Unresectable Advanced Gastric Cancer

Authors: Daijiro Higashi, Katsunori Seki, Yuki Ishibashi, Yuji Egawa, Masakazu Koga, Takahide Sasaki, Kimikazu Hirano, Koji Mikami, Kitaro Futami, Takafumi Maekawa, and Maki Sudo
Journal: Anticancer Research
Study Design: Retrospective study
Participants: 39 patients diagnosed with unresectable gastric cancer who underwent S-1/paclitaxel therapy. Nineteen of the patients received lentinan while 20 did not.
Intervention:

• The patients received S-1/paclitaxel therapy. S-1 at 80-100 mg was administered orally for two weeks with a one-week respite; an infusion of paclitaxel (75 mg) was given on days 1 and 8.
• The group that was given lentinan was also given an infusion of lentinan at 2 mg on days 1 and 8.

Outcome Measures:

• Overall survival time
• Duration of therapy
• Adverse events

Summary: The study retrospectively examined the usefulness of lentinan in combination with S-1/paclitaxel therapy in patients with unresectable advanced gastric cancer. The results showed no significant difference in overall survival time between the lentinan and non-lentinan groups. However, the duration of therapy tended to be longer for the lentinan group, possibly due to a lower incidence of adverse events. The study concluded that while lentinan did not appear to prolong survival, it may improve the quality of life by reducing adverse events and allowing for longer treatment duration.