[Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy using NCS (neocarzinostatin) and 5-FU in the treatment of gastric cancer. First report--A comparison with the 5-year survival rate of patients undergoing combined therapy with MMC and 5-FU].

: As a postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer, we have administered a combination of NCS (Neocarzinostatin) and 5-FU (NF treatment method) and in this paper we have compiled the results obtained in patients who were treated for 5 years in an attempt to compare the 5-year survival rate with that of patients administered a combination of MMC and 5-FU (MF treatment group) and a control group administered no anticancer agents. As the selection of either NF or MF treatment was conducted on an annual basis, this study can be considered an historical controlled study. The results obtained are summarized as follows. On comparing the survival rate of the NF treatment group and the control group, the 5-year survival rate for all patients who underwent curative resection and all patients with histological stage III cancers and the curative resection PS (+) group, as well as the survival period of the non-resected patients, showed a statistically significant difference, indicating that the survival rate was higher in the NF group. On comparing the NF group and the MF group, although no statistically significant difference was observed between then based on a stratified analysis of all resected cases, histological stage differences and n.ps factors, etc., certain values tended to indicate a higher survival rate for the NF group. Moreover, the survival rate of the non-resected patients was more favorable in the NF group. These results confirm that NCS is useful for the treatment of stomach cancer and compares favorably with MMC. The appearance of side-effects was significantly lower in the NF group in comparison with the MF group and the number of patients who had to discontinue therapy was extremely low.