Gastric Cancer — New Therapeutic Options

Gastric and gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas are important health problems. A 2005 analysis1 of the worldwide incidence of and mortality from cancer showed that 934,000 cases of gastric cancer occurred in 2002 and that 700,000 patients die annually of this disease. The management of gastric cancer, like the management of most gastrointestinal cancers, is based on surgical resection of the primary tumor. When the cancer is localized to the stomach and is minimally invasive,2,3 surgical cure is possible in up to 90 percent of cases. However, the detection of early gastric cancer is unusual in Western countries. More commonly, resectable gastric . . .