Highlights of the EORTC St. Gallen International Expert Consensus on the primary therapy of gastric, gastroesophageal and oesophageal cancer - differential treatment strategies for subtypes of early gastroesophageal cancer

Management of gastric cancer in Asia: resource-stratified guidelines

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer globally, and is the second most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. About three-quarters of newly diagnosed cases in 2008 were from Asian countries. With a high mortality-to-incidence ratio, management of gastric cancer is challenging. We discuss evidence for optimum management of gastric cancer in aspects of screening and early detection, diagnosis, and staging; endoscopic and surgical intervention; and the concepts of perioperative, postoperative, and palliative chemotherapy and use of molecularly targeted therapy. Recommendations are formulated on the basis of the framework provided by the Breast Health Global Initiative, using the categories of basic, limited, enhanced, and maximum level. We aim to provide a stepwise strategy for management of gastric cancer applicable to different levels of health-care resources in Asian countries.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation versus perioperative chemotherapy followed by surgery in resectable adenocarcinomas of the esophagogastric junction: A retrospective single center analysis

The current study presents a retrospective comparison, performed at a single academic center, of preoperative chemoradiation (CRT) and perioperative chemotherapy (CT) in addition to surgery in locally advanced but resectable adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG). A total of 29 consecutive patients with locally advanced AEGs were retrospectively analyzed. Treatment consisted of preoperative CRT (mean dose, 45.0 Gy) plus two cycles of CT with cisplatin and 5-FU or perioperative CT with epirubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine (three cycles preoperatively and postoperatively). Within four to six weeks following preoperative treatment, surgical therapy was performed. Median overall survival was 21.0 months in the perioperative CT group versus 41.7 months in the CRT group [P=0.36; hazard ratio (HR), 1.50; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.58–3.84]. Three-year survival rates were 55 and 38%, respectively, in favor of the CRT group, and progression-free survival was 20.0 months in the CT group compared with 24.1 months in the CRT group (P=0.71; HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.46–3.05). The total number of major surgical complications was almost equal in the two groups. Margin-free resections were achieved in all patients of the CRT group, but only 76.9% of the CT group (P=0.05). In addition, significantly higher R0 resection rates and an increased number of pathological complete remissions were demonstrated in the CRT group compared with those of the CT group. These results appear to indicate a trend for improved progression-free and overall survival for the CRT group. As postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were similar in the two groups, the results support the use of CRT for patients with advanced AEG tumors.

Response to chemotherapy in gastric adenocarcinoma with diffusion-weighted MRI and (18) F-FDG-PET/CT: correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient and partial volume corrected standardized uptake value with histological tumor regression grade

PURPOSE

To assess whether changes in diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) and (18) F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18) F-FDG PET/CT), correlate with treatment response to neoadjuvant therapy (NT), as expressed by tumor regression grade (TRG), from locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (GA).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Seventeen patients underwent both DW-MRI and (18) F-FDG-PET/CT scans before and after the end of NT. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and mean standardized uptake value (SUV) corrected for partial volume effect (PVC-SUVBW-mean ) were evaluated and compared with histopathological TRG.

RESULTS

Pre- and post-NT and percentage changes for ADC and PVC-SUVBW-mean were assessed. Post-NT ADC and ΔADC showed a significant inverse correlation with TRG (r = -0.71; P = 0.0011 and r = -0.78; P = 0.00020, respectively) and significant differences in their mean values were found between responders (TRG 1-2-3) and nonresponders (TRG 4-5) (P = 0.0009; P = 0.000082, respectively). No correlations with TRG were found for pre-NT ADC and for all PVC-SUVBW-mean values as well as between ΔADC and Δ PVC-SUVBW-mean .

CONCLUSION

DW-MRI seems more accurate than (18) F-FDG-PET/CT and ADC modifications may represent a reproducible tool to assess tumor response for GA.

Helicobacter pylori: gastric cancer and extragastric malignancies - clinical aspects

The best opportunity to reduce gastric cancer (GC)-related mortality remains prevention. Mass eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection in a Taiwanese population >30 years of age reduced GC incidence with an effectiveness of 25% (rate ratio 0.753, 95% CI 0.372-1.524). In the Shandong intervention trial conducted on a Chinese population aged 35-64 years, cancer incidence was reduced by 39% in subjects who received H. pylori treatment compared with the placebo group after 14.7 years of follow-up (absolute risk 3.0 vs 4.6%; odds ratio 0.61, 95% CI 0.38-0.96; p = .03). A high incidence of severe gastric atrophic changes and noninvasive gastric neoplasia has been reported in a Portuguese case-control study on first-degree relatives of patients with early-onset gastric carcinoma (i.e., diagnosed before 45 years), which emphasizes again the importance of GC screening in this population. For patients with advanced GC, new targeted therapies to improve survival are under scrutiny. Trastuzumab resistance may be present from early on, or develop during trastuzumab therapy in patients with GC, and an overexpression of the HER2/neu protein. New molecules to overcome trastuzumab resistance are also being evaluated. The association between H. pylori-induced gastritis and an increased risk of developing colonic neoplasms has been confirmed in a recent study, but the causality for this intriguing association has still to be clarified.

(Neo)-adjuvant chemo(-radio) therapy for adenocarcinomas of the gastroesophageal junction and the stomach in the West

Worldwide, the treatment of adenocarcinomas of the gastroesophageal junction and stomach has changed over the past decades. It is no longer surgery alone. Nowadays, most patients undergo surgery plus pre- and/or postoperative therapies. However, there are still marked differences in surgical procedures between the East and the West which might influence the surgical prognosis and thereby also the choice of perioperative treatment strategies. In the East, with its more extended surgical procedures, including standard D2 dissections, the current treatment philosophy is primary surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Neoadjuvant approaches are restricted to really advanced tumors, and perioperative chemoradiation is not routinely used (at least to date). This clearly differs from treatment strategies currently recommended in Western countries. In Europe and North America, pre- plus postoperative chemotherapy has become the recommended treatment for locally more advanced tumors, and preoperative chemoradiation is increasingly administered to patients with adenocarcinomas of the gastroesophageal junction (Siewert type I/II). However, the role of postoperative chemotherapy (despite its increasing use) is still under discussion in the West (especially Europe) and not generally recommended/accepted as a standard treatment. Postoperative chemoradiation, which is one standard treatment in North America, is only regarded as a treatment option for patients after 'inadequate surgery' (i.e. <D2 dissection) in many European countries.