Introduction: Docetaxel, oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil (FLOT) may improve overall survival (OS) in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC); however, evidence for its use as a standard treatment has not been established in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness, safety, and feasibility of the FLOT regimen as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in Chinese patients with resectable LAGC. Methods: We conducted an observational study to compare the effectiveness of FLOT regimen consisting of docetaxel (60 mg/m2), oxaliplatin (85 mg/m2), leucovorin (200 mg/m2), and 5-fluorouracil (2,600 mg/m2 as a 24 hr infusion), all given on day 1 and administered every 2 weeks versus initial surgery followed by chemotherapy in patients with clinical T3-4 LAGC. OS was compared by using the Cox proportional hazards regression model and the Kaplan-Meier curve adjusted by inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis. In addition, we performed subgroup analyses to determine the effectiveness of the FLOT regimen in clinically relevant patient subsets. Results: Overall, 47 patients who received initial FLOT chemotherapy and 269 patients who received initial surgery were enrolled in this study. In the PSM analysis, the FLOT-first group showed favorable OS compared with the surgery-first group (41 vs 41 [HR, 0.416; 95% CI, 0.218-0.794; P=0.008]), and 3-year survival rates were 58.7% and 30.9% in the FLOT-first group and surgery-first group, respectively. IPTW analysis showed similar results. However, the effect of FLOT was low (HR, 0.868; 95 CI%, 0.215-3.504) in patients without lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: Our study suggests that preoperative FLOT chemotherapy is safe and feasible. In terms of OS, FLOT may be superior to initial surgery followed by chemotherapy in reducing morbidity with resectable LAGC.
Keywords: FLOT; gastric cancer; preoperative chemotherapy; prognosis; propensity score.