Pathological evaluation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer

• Published in: World journal of surgical oncology Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 3
• Main Authors: Hu, Shen-Bao, Liu, Chun-Hao, Wang, Xiang, Dong, Yun-Wei, Zhao, Lin, Liu, Hong-Feng, Cao, Yue, Zhong, Ding-Rong, Liu, Wei, Li, Yan-Long, Gao, Wei-Sheng, Bai, Chun-Mei, Shang, Zhong-Hua, Li, Xiao-Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 03-01-2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adjuvant chemotherapy; Biopsy; Cancer; Cancer patients; Cancer therapies; Cancer treatment; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Classification; Clinical outcomes; Correlation analysis; Criteria; Diagnosis; Endoscopy; Evaluation; Gastric cancer; Graded histological regression (GHR); Histological techniques; Intestine; Medical imaging; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Multivariate analysis; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Overall survival (OS); Patients; Regression analysis; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Stomach cancer; Studies; Surgery; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Overall survival (OS); Gastric cancer; Graded histological regression (GHR)
• ISSN: 1477-7819; 1477-7819
• DOI: 10.1186/s12957-018-1534-z

Although pathological evaluation has been considered an effective evaluation method, some problems still exist in practice. Therefore, we explored whether there are more reasonable and practical pathological evaluation criteria for neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Here, we aim to determine pathological judgment criteria for neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.
Eighty-seven patients with cT2-4 or cN+ were enrolled in this study. Pathological factors for overall survival (OS) were investigated using univariate and multivariate analyses, and the pathological criteria for neoadjuvant chemotherapy were then determined.
A total of 87 patients underwent 3-4 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with 67 (77.0%), 15 (17.2%), and 5 (5.8%) receiving Folfox6, Xelox, and SOX regimens, respectively. All patients showed different levels of graded histological regression (GHR) of the primary tumor, with a ≥ 50% regression rate of 50.6%. The univariate analysis showed that GHR ≥ 50% (p = 0.022), 66.7% (p = 0.013), and 90% (p = 0.028) were significantly correlated with OS. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that ypTNM (II/III) stage was significantly associated with OS compared with ypTNM (0+I) stage [HR = 3.553, 95% CI 1.886-6.617; HR = 3.576, 95% CI 1.908-6.703, respectively] and that the Lauren classification of diffuse type was also an independent risk factor for OS compared with the intestinal type (HR = 3.843, 95% CI 1.443-10.237).
The Lauren classification and ypTNM stage after neoadjuvant chemotherapy are independent prognostic factors in advanced gastric cancer. A GHR ≥ 50%/< 50% can be used as the primary criterion for advanced gastric cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy to determine postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimens.