Chemotherapy Effective Treatment For Stomach Cancer

A new study suggests that stomach cancerof Medicine. It also shrank tumors and improved
patients will live longer if they get chemotherapysurvival without a return of cancer.
before and after surgery.Lead by Dr. David Cuningham of Royal Marsden
British researchers found that chemo cut the riskHospital in Sutton and London, researchers
of death by 25 percent compared to just surgeryexamined 503 patients. Doctors gave the patients
alonewith operable stomach cancer chemotherapy both
It also improved the rate of survival and cut thebefore and after surgery.
risk of the cancer returning.'Clinicians can have confidence in the solid evidence
Currently the standard treatment for stomachthat peri-operative therapy improves the
cancer is surgery, were all or part of the stomachoutcome for patients with respectable gastric
is removed. If caught early, chance of survivalcancer,' Cuningham told United Press International.
increases significantly.He also said the trial was well-designed and
Chemo cut the risk of death by a quarterwell-executed and had enough patients to show
compared to surgery alone, according to thethat the results did not appear to occur by
study published in Thursday's New England Journalchance.