No abstract

All three investigated regimens demonstrate modest clinical efficacy and should not be regarded as standard treatment for advanced gastric cancer. New strategies should be considered to achieve a better clinical efficacy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.

Patients can be divided into at least three risk groups depending on the four baseline clinical parameters: performance status, WBC count, alkaline phosphatase and number of metastatic sites. Any molecular or biological marker should be validated against these clinical parameters and decisions for more or less intensive treatments may be studied separately in these three risk groups. Also, clinical trials should be stratified according to the three risk groups.