Clinical study on early post-operational intraperitoneal chemotherapy and salviae in treating patients of gastric cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the safety, feasibility and short-term efficacy of early post-operational intraperitoneal chemotherapy (EPIC) combined with Salviae miltiorrhizae (SM) in treating patients with gastric cancer. Methods: The 136 patients enrolled were divided into 3 groups: the EPIC group, the EPVC group and the control group. The former two groups were treated with SM plus 5-FU started from the second or third day after operation for 5 continuous days by intraperitoneal infusion or intravenous dripping respectively, and the control group was untreated but conventional chemotherapy was given 3 weeks after surgical operation. Toxic and adverse effects of chemotherapy, post-operational complications, short-term survival rate and intra-abdominal tumor recurrence rate were observed and compared. Results: (1) Toxic adverse effects of chemotherapy that occurred in the EPIC group were less than those in the EPVC group significantly ( P<0.05-0.01). (2) Occurrence of serious complications in the EPIC group was not higher than that in the other two groups. (3) The 1- and 2-year survival rate in the EPIC group was higher than those in the other two groups respectively ( P<0.01), while the post-operational intra-abdominal recurrence rate in EPIC group was significantly lower than that in the other two groups ( P<0. 05) Conclusions: Combined therapy of SM and 5-FU in treating patients with gastric cancer by intraperitoneal infusion is not only safe and feasible with mild toxic and side effect, but also produces a more beneficial effects, including less intra-abdominal recurrence and satisfactory short-term survival rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]