Maintenance Therapy with Tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil After First-line Chemotherapy in Stage IV Gastric Cancer: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: The feasibility, efficacy and safety of maintenance chemotherapy (MCT) after first-line therapy in advanced gastric cancer (AGC) remain obscure. This study aims to explore the efficacy and safety of tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil MCT in stage IV GC. Methods: Seventeen patients with stage IV GC had been involved in this study from the Department of Oncology of Changhai Hospital from January 1st, 2017 to August 31st, 2021. After 6-8 cycles of first-line chemotherapy with SOX (tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil combined with oxaliplatin) or DS (docetaxel combined with tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil) MCT was administered with tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil which continued until disease progression or intolerable adverse effects or death. The PFS, OS, DCR and adverse effects were analyzed. Results: Among 17 patients with stage IV GC, 11 patients received prior SOX-based first-line therapy, 6 patients with TS regimen. The best curative effect of first-line therapy were CR in 1 case, PR in 2 and SD in 14. DCR was 87.5% after tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil MCT, and the median PFS was 13.5 months, the median OS was 23 months. The main adverse effects of tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil MCT were grade 1-3 hematologic and grade 1 fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms. There were no treatment-related deaths or toxic effects of grade 4.