Prognostic Factors in First-Line Chemotherapy Treated Metastatic Gastric Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Study

Background: The majority of patients with gastric cancer in developing countries present with advanceddisease. Systemic chemotherapy therefore has limited impact on overall survival. Patients eligible for chemotherapyshould be selected carefully. The aim of this study was to analyze prognostic factors for survival in advancedgastric cancer patients undergoing first-line palliative chemotherapy.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed107 locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer patients who were treated with docetaxel and cisplatin plusfluorouracil (DCF) as first-line treatment between June 2007 and August 2011. Twenty-eight potential prognosticvariables were chosen for univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: Among the 28 variables of univariateanalysis, nine variables were identified to have prognostic significance: performance status, histology, locationof primary tumor, lung metastasis, peritoneum metastasis, ascites, hemoglobin, albumin, weight loss and bonemetastasis. Multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazard model, including nine prognostic significancefactors evident in univariate analysis, revealed weight loss, histology, peritoneum metastasis, ascites and serumhemoglobin level to be independent variables.
Conclusion: Performance status, weight loss, histology, peritoneummetastasis, ascites and serum hemoglobin level were identified as important prognostic factors in advancedgastric cancer patients. These findings may facilitate pretreatment prediction of survival and can be used forselecting patients for treatment.