Adjuvant Treatment of Gastric Cancer in the D2 Dissection Era: A Real-life Experience from a Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The role of radiotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of gastric cancer (GC) remains to be elucidated. This study aimed to assess the additional benefit of radiotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of GC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we included 230 gastric adenocarcinoma patients who underwent D2 dissection between January 2004 and December 2019. Patients without R0 resection, who underwent metastasectomy at surgery, and treated with the neoadjuvant treatment were excluded. The co-primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). The secondary endpoints were the locoregional and distant metastasis risk and adverse events (AEs) leading to treatment discontinuation. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-six and 64 patients were included in the chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and chemotherapy (ChT) arms, respectively. The median OS was 135.8 months [interquartile range (IQR): 99.4–172.2] and 97 months (IQR: 59.7–134.3) in the CRT and the ChT arms, respectively. No statistical significance was observed between the arms in OS (p = 0.3). Locoregional or distant recurrence rates were similar in each group. AEs leading to treatment discontinuation were higher in the CRT arm than in the ChT arm (13.2 vs 9.3%), and the difference between the arms was not statistically significant (p = 0.4). CONCLUSION: In this real-life study, we established that there was no additional benefit of RT in GC patients who underwent D2 dissection. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Yekedüz E, Doğan İ, Birgi SD, et al. Adjuvant Treatment of Gastric Cancer in the D2 Dissection Era: A Real-life Experience from a Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2021;11(2):51–58.