Anemia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Anemia, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, diet, treatment, causes.

Anemia is the strongest prognostic factor for outcomes of 5-fluorouracil-based first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Park SH, Lee J, Lee SH, Park JO, Kim K, Kim WS, Jung CW, Park YS, Kang WK, Park K, Kim S, Bang SM, Cho EK, Shin DB, Lee JH

Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon Medical School Gil Medical Center, Incheon, 405-760 Korea.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of anemia and its impact of hemoglobin (Hgb) levels in predicting outcomes of 5-fluorouracil (FU)-based first-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC). METHODS: We collected data retrospectively from 511 consecutive patients treated with FU-based first-line chemotherapy as a routine clinical practice for AGC and followed up in two centers from 1995 to 2003. FU was given in combination with cisplatin (61%), taxanes (12%), anthracyclines (24%) and/or folinic acid (50%). RESULTS: Hgb values were <10 g/dl in 41%, and patients with baseline Hgb levels <10 g/dl had significantly lower response rates (9%) than patients with Hgb > or = 10 g/dl (53%; P < 0.001). In addition, Hgb < 10 g/dl served as a predictor for disease progression (RR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.42-2.21) and death (RR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.48-2.32) along with chemotherapy response and performance status. CONCLUSION: Low baseline Hgb level is a strong and independent prognostic factor for the outcomes of AGC patients receiving FU-based first-line chemotherapy. This results strongly suggest that Hgb level, along with performance status, may be considered as a stratification variable in subsequent studies of AGC.

Published 25 November 2005 in Cancer Chemother Pharmacol, 57(1): 91-6.
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