Perioperative docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil compared to standard chemotherapy for resectable gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma

Abstract Background Even though the perioperative chemotherapy improves the overall survival (OS) compared to surgery alone in patients with a resectable gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA), prognosis of these patients remains poor. Docetaxel (D), cisplatin (C), and 5-fluorouracil (F) regimen improves OS compared to CF among patients with advanced GEA. We evaluated the potential interest of a perioperative DCF regimen, compared to standard (S) regimens, in resectable GEA patients. Methods We identified 459 patients treated with preoperative DCF or S regimens. The primary endpoint was OS. Propensity scores were estimated with a logistic regression model in which all baseline covariates were included. We then used two methods to take PS into account and thus make DCF and S patients comparable. OS analyses were performed with Kaplan–Meier and Cox models in propensity score matched samples, and inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) samples. Results In the propensity score matched sample, the p-value from the log rank test for OS was 0.0961, and the 3-year OS rate was 73% and 55% in DCF and S groups, respectively. The multivariate Cox regression underlined a Hazard Ratio of 0.55 (95% CI 0.27–1.13) for DCF patients compared to S patients. The results from IPTW analyses showed that DCF was significantly and independently associated with OS (HR = 0.52; 95% CI 0.40–0.69). Conclusions In this retrospective multicenter, hypothesis-generating study, the propensity score analyses underlined encouraging results in favor of DCF compared to S regimens regarding OS. This promising result should be validated in a phase-3 trial.