Perioperative chemotherapy for resectable gastric cancer - what is the evidence?

AbstractThe UK MAGIC trial published in 2006 was the first RCT to identify improved long-term survival rates using preoperative chemotherapy for resectable gastric or gastroesophageal cancer. Overnight, the treatment regimen impacted European guidelines. However, the majority of patients underwent limited lymph node dissection, and analyses of the rates of curative resection, downsizing and downstaging were not by intention to treat, rightfully raising concerns about their validity. For the subset of true gastric cancers, meta-analyses may even question the claims of improved long-term survival rates by present-day regimens. A rhetorical question can be posed as to whether downstaging and improved survival rates by preoperative (radio)-chemotherapy for cancers of the distal esophagus or gastric cardia, has confounded our conclusions on the (lack of) effect of present-day regimens of perioperative chemotherapy for true gastric cancers, let alone in a situation with proper lymph node dissection. At present,...