Survival outcomes of adjuvant taxanes, platinum plus fluoropyrimidines versus platinum and fluoropyrimidines for gastric cancer patients after D2 gastrectomy: a retrospective propensity score-matched analysis

Background: To evaluate whether the addition of taxanes to platinum and fluoropyrimidines in adjuvant chemotherapy would result in longer survival than platinum plus fluoropyrimidines in gastric cancer patients who received D2 gastrectomy.

Methods: Data of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who received D2 gastrectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy with platinum plus fluoropyrimidines or taxanes, platinum plus fluoropyrimidines was retrospectively collected and analyzed. 1:1 Propensity score matching analysis was used to balance baseline characteristics between two groups. Survival curves were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method, and the differences were compared using the log-rank test.

Results: Four hundred twenty-five patients in the platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group and 177 patients in the taxanes, platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group were included into analysis. No statistical differences in disease-free survival and overall survival were observed between two groups. After propensity score matching, 172 couples of patients were matched, the baseline characteristics were balanced. The median disease-free survival were 15.8 months (95% CI, 9.3~22.4) in the platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group and 22.6 months (95% CI, 15.9~29.4) in the taxanes, platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group (HR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.48~0.85; P = 0.002). The median overall survival was 25.4 months for patients in the platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group (95% CI, 19.4~31.3) and 33.8 months (95% CI, 23.5~44.2) for those in the taxanes, platinum plus fluoropyrimidines group (HR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.53-0.87; log-rank test, P = 0.002).

Conclusions: For gastric adenocarcinoma patients, the adjuvant triplet combination of taxanes, platinum, and fluoropyrimidines regimen after D2 gastrectomy was superior to platinum plus fluoropyrimidines regimen in disease-free survival as well as overall survival.

Trial registration: This project has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR1800019978 ).