Adjuvant tegafur-uracil (UFT) or S-1 monotherapy for advanced gastric cancer: a single center experience

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant tegafur-gimeracil-oteracil (S-1) is commonly used for gastric cancer in Asia, and tegafur-uracil (UFT) is another oral fluoropyrimidine when S-1 is unavailable. The real-world data of adjuvant UFT has less been investigated. METHODS: Patients with pathological stage II-IIIB (except T1) gastric cancer receiving adjuvant UFT or S-1 monotherapy after D2 gastrectomy were included. Usage of UFT or S-1 was based on reimbursement policy of the Taiwanese healthcare system. The characteristics, chemotherapy completion rates, and 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), were compared between these two groups. RESULTS: From 2005 to 2016, 86 eligible patients were included. Most tumor characteristics were similar between the UFT group (n = 37; age 59.1 ± 13.9 years) and S-1 group (n = 49; age 56.3 ± 10.7 years), except there were significantly more Borrmann type III/IV (86.5% versus 67.3%; p = 0.047) and T4 (56.8% versus 10.2%; p < 0.001) lesions in the UFT group than in the S-1 group. The chemotherapy complete rates were similar in the two groups. The 5-year RFS was 56.1% in the UFT group and 59.6% in the S-1 group (p = 0.71), and the 5-year OS was 78.3% in the UFT group and 73.1% in the S-1 group (p = 0.48). The hazard ratio of adjuvant chemotherapy (S-1 versus UFT) on RFS was 1.25 (95% confidence interval = 0.53-2.94) when Borrmann type and T and N stages were adjusted. CONCLUSIONS: This small cohort study showed adjuvant UFT, and S-1 monotherapy had a comparable long-term outcome for pathological stage II-IIIB gastric cancer following D2 gastrectomy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-021-02233-2.