Perioperative Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Gastroesophageal Cancer

Although relatively uncommon in the U.S., esophagogastric cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Adjuvant therapy, either preoperative or postoperative, is now a standard of care for T3 or node-positive esophageal and gastric adenocarcinoma. To investigate the potential survival benefit of both preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin, researchers randomized 224 patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the lower esophagus, stomach, or gastroesophageal junction to receive the chemotherapy regimen or surgery alone in a multicenter, phase III trial in France.

Patients assigned to chemotherapy received 2 to 3 preoperative cycles of 5-FU (800 mg/m² on days 1–5) combined with…