Effects of paclitaxel liposome and capecitabine in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer by clinical observation.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and side effects of paclitaxel liposome and capecitabine in the treatment of 34 cases with advanced gastric cancer.

METHOD: For 64 patients with advanced gastric cancer, 30 cases were treated with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (DCF group, control group), and 34 cases were treated with paclitaxel liposome and capecitabine (PC group, experimental group). DCF group: 75 mg/m2 of docetaxel, d1; 20 mg/m2 of cisplatin, d1-5; 350 mg/m2 of 5-fluorouracil, 4 - 6 hours of intravenous drip, d1-5, a cycle of 21 days. PC group: 135 mg/m2 of paclitaxel liposome, d1; 2,000 mg/m2.d of capecitabine, oral dose of twice per day, d1-14, a cycle of 21 days.

CONTROL GROUP: the chemotherapy with a total of 122 cycles, with an average of 4.07 cycles; 2 cases of complete remission (CR), 12 cases of partial remission (PR), 7 cases of stable disease (SD), and 9 cases of development of progressive disease (PD); 46.7% of the immediate efficacy (remission rate (RR)), 70% of the disease control rate (DCR), 6.9 months of median PFS, and 12.5 months of median OS. Experimental group: the chemotherapy with a total of 169 cycles, with an average of 4.97 cycles; 14 cases of PR, 9 cases of SD, and 11 cases of PD; 46.7% of the immediate efficacy (RR), 70% of the disease control rate (DCR), 6.9 months of median progression-free survival (PFS), and 12.5 months of median overall survival (OS). There were no remarkable differences in RR, DCR, PFS curve, or OS curve for the two groups. The major toxicity of the two groups was hematological toxicity. The incidence of grade III - IV leucopenia in the control and experimental group was 56.7% and 17.6%, respectively. And the incidence of grade III - IV anemia was 13.3% and 2.9%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: As an ideal schema in first-line therapy for advanced gastric cancer, paclitaxel liposome combined with capecitabine is generally well tolerated in clinical use, and is worth further extension.