Abstract
Although the incidence of gastric cancer in Japan has recently been decreasing, its mortality still ranks second after that of lung cancer. Yet there is no standard therapeutic modality for this disease and treatment is chosen in each clinical setting to suit the individual patient.
During the last several years, new anti-neoplastic agents-e. g., TS-1, CPT-11 and taxanes一have been approved in succession by the government. Although the survival time of patients has gradually been prolonged by designing various combinations of these agents, the outcome is not yet satisfactory. At our department, the properties of paclitaxel (TXL) was recognized ; and a phase I clinical trial is being conducted to establish a standard frontline therapy for gastric cancer by adopting a regimen in which TXL is added to the conventional FP therapy. The concept is that the establishments of the frontline therapy in combination with subsequent chemotherapies as well as multimodal therapy to suit each patient is essential in prolonging the patient's survival time and improving guality of life at home. In view of the recent increase in the number of the elderly cancer patients, greater consideration has been given toward therapy that will improve their quality of life rather than merely prolonging life. We plan to investigate the effects of chemotherapy for gastric cancer on QOL using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires; and then incorporate the results of this survey in designing future therapeutic strategies.
