CAPECITABINE AND CISPLATIN VERSUS 5-FU AND CISPLATIN FOR GASTRIC CANCER

Ann Oncol. 2009 Jan 19. [Epub ahead of print]

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Capecitabine/cisplatin versus 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin as first-line therapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer: a randomised phase III noninferiority trial.

Kang YK, Kang WK, Shin DB, Chen J, Xiong J, Wang J, Lichinitser M, Guan Z, Khasanov R, Zheng L, Philco-Salas M, Suarez T, Santamaria J, Forster G, McCloud PI.

Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: To compare capecitabine/cisplatin with 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin as first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer (AGC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this randomised, open-label, phase III study, patients received cisplatin (80 mg/m(2) i.v. day 1) plus oral capecitabine (1000 mg/m(2) b.i.d., days 1-14) (XP) or 5-FU (800 mg/m(2)/day by continuous infusion, days 1-5) (FP) every 3 weeks. The primary end point was to confirm noninferiority of XP versus FP for progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: A total of 316 patients were randomised to XP (n = 160) or FP (n = 156). In the per-protocol population, median PFS for XP (n = 139) versus FP (n = 137) was 5.6 versus 5.0 months. The primary end point was met with an unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.81 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-1.04, P < hr =" 0.85," p =" 0.008" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232911364_21">adverse events in XP versus FP patients were as follows: neutropenia (16% versus 19%), vomiting (7% versus 8%), and stomatitis (2% versus 6%). CONCLUSIONS: XP showed significant noninferiority for PFS versus FP in the first-line treatment of AGC. XP can be considered an effective alternative to FP.