Paclitaxel/oxaliplatin/fluorouracil (TOF) regimen versus S-1/oxaliplatin (SOX) regimen for metastatic gastric cancer patients

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: This study was designed to compare the efficacy and safety of paclitaxel/oxaliplatin/fluorouracil (TOF) regimen and S-1/oxaliplatin (SOX) regimen for metastatic gastric cancer (GC) patients. METHODS: Sixty patients were divided into TOF group and SOX groups randomly. Patients in the TOF group received paclitaxel (135 mg/m(2) iv) on day 1, oxaliplatin (100 mg/m(2) iv) on day 1, fluorouracil (500 mg/m(2) continuous iv) on day 1-5. The patients in the SOX group received oxaliplatin (130 mg/m(2) iv) on day 1 and S-1 (40 mg~60mg orally twice/day based on body surface area) on days 1-14. All the treatments were repeated every 21d for 4-6 cycles. RESULTS: The ORR and DCR of TOF group was 43.3% and 60.0%, respectively while that of SOX group was 36.7% and 56.7%. There were no statistical differences between the ORRs (?(2) = 0.278) and the DCRs (?(2) = 0.069) of the 2 groups. The majority of adverse events of two groups were hematological and digestive ones. Most of them were grade I and II. The adverse event rate of TOF group was higher than SOX group. The PFS times of TOF and SOX groups were 6.5 and 5.8 months, respectively. There was no statistical difference between the PFSs of the 2 groups (P = 0.451). CONCLUSIONS: The efficacies of TOF and SOX regimens are similar but the safety of SOX regimen better than TOF regimen.