Clinical Observation of Docetaxel Combined with Vinorelbine as Second Line Treatment for Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of combination chemotherapy using Docetaxel plus Vinorelbine (TN regimen) as a second-line regimen for advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients. Methods Thirty-two advanced gastric cancer patients who had been treated by multiple chemotherapy regimens with poor responses were allotted. TN regimen was adopted and the cycle was repeated every 14 days. Results Thirty-two patients were evaluated for clinical response after 134 cycles. There was no complete response and the overall response rate (RR) was 43.8%. Median time to progression (mTTP) was 5.0 months and 1-year survival rate was 23.3% with a median survival time of 9.0 months. Patients previously treated by cisplatin-containing regimen and non cisplatin-containing regimen were evaluated with RR 50.0% and 25.0% (P=0.412), and 1-year survival rate was 27.3% and 12.5% (P=0.115) with mTTP of 9.0 and 8.0 months (P=0.174). The major toxicity was neutropenia (81.2%) and all the toxicities were reversible. Conclusion TN regimen is an effective and well tolerated regimen in the second-line treatment of AGC which can relieve suffering and improve quality of life. Its therapeutic effect is not affected by the first-line regimen (cisplatin-containing or non cisplatin-containing). But we still need more large survey sample for further research.