Three-Weekly S-1 Monotherapy as First-Line Treatment in Elderly Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Gastric Cancer

Lim, Joo Han; Lee, Moon Hee; Kim, Hyung Gil; Shin, Yong Woon; Yi, Hyeon Gyu; Shin, Seok Hwan; Hur, Yoon Seok; Kim, Chul Soo; Chang, Hye Jeong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) have generally been excluded from clinical trials, and there are few data available on the treatment of these patients. The efficacy of palliative S-1 monotherapy as a first-line treatment regimen for elderly patients has not been well elucidated.
METHODS
For this study, 25 AGC patients were enrolled between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2009; 4 cases were recurrent AGC and 21 cases were metastatic AGC at the time of diagnosis. These patients received S-1 therapy at a dose of 40 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks. All of the patients were older than 70 years.
RESULTS
The median follow-up duration, the median progression-free survival, and the overall survival time were 8.7 months (range, 4.9 to 12.5 months), 4.9 months (range, 3.5 to 6.3 months), and 10.8 months (range, 6.6 to 15.0 months), respectively. Grade 3/4 nonhematologic toxicities were rare. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was noted in two patients. The partial response rate was 21.7% and stable disease was observed in 34.8% of the patients. Two patients (8%) died due to chemotherapy-associated toxicity during treatment (septic shock/intracranial hemorrhage).
CONCLUSIONS
Oral S-1 chemotherapy seems to be effective as a first-line treatment regimen for elderly patients with metastatic or recurrent AGC. However, elderly patients receiving S-1 treatment should undergo continuous toxicity monitoring, since they are highly susceptible to adverse effects.