[Efficacy of a 48-hour infusion of 5-fluorouracil in patients with stage IV gastric cancer after palliative gastrectomy].

ABSTRACT

Efficacy of a 48-hour infusion of 5-FU in patients with stage IV gastric cancer was investigated. A one-cycle regimen consisted of a 48-hour infusion of 5-FU (30 mg/kg/24 hours) every week for 6 weeks. Fourteen patients with stage IV gastric cancer who underwent absolutely non-curative gastrectomy, received 5-FU infusion postoperatively. Ten of the 14 received more than 2 cycles. Survival rates in these patients (group I) were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method and compared with those of matched pair controls (group II) who received other anticancer agents. Side effects were generally mild. Nausea during infusion was observed in only 3 cases. The 50% survival period was 393 days in group I and 135 days in group II, respectively. The survival curve in group I was significantly higher than in group II (p = 0.05). From these results, this treatment is considered to be very effective.