A salvage treatment with combination of docetaxel and epirubicin in patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer after fluoropyrimidine failure.

e15081 Background: For patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer (GC), second-line chemotherapy is considered as standard in practice with various regimens. While docetaxel and epirubicin are one of the most commonly used agents in GC, the feasibility of the combination has not been evaluated. Methods: In this phase II trial, patients with recurrent or metastatic GC who had failed to fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy were recruited. Docetaxel (50 mg/m2) and epirubicin (50 mg/m2) were administered every 3 weeks. The primary end-point was disease control rate (DCR) and the secondary end-points were OS, PFS and toxicities. As there is a notion that anthracycline is effective in HER2-positive breast cancer, we also analyzed the efficacy according to HER2 status in GC patients. Results: From Sep 2012 to Oct 2013, a total of 22 patients were enrolled. The median age was 51 (range 33-70) and M:F ratio was 15:7. Five patients were HER2 positive and they all had progressed after anti-HER2 treatment. O...