Background

While the development in multimodal therapies has helped improve treatment outcomes for patients with locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (LAGC), there still exist disparities in opinion with an optimal treatment plan. This consensus hopes to provide clinicians with structured guidelines to aid in the decision-making for treatment options for LAGC.

Methods

The consensus statement was initiated by establishing a taskforce in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Gastroesophageal Cancer Congress (APGCC) and a multidisciplinary expert panel was selected. Clinical questions on LAGC where perceived variance in practice or opinion may exist were formulated. Studies involving patients with Stage 2 or 3 gastric or Siewert 3 junctional cancers with treatment arms of perioperative chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery were included. A total of two rounds of voting were performed. Consensus was determined to be reached when a single answer or a combination of either "strongly agree/agree" or "strongly disagree/disagree" responses exceeded 75%.

Results

A total of thirteen clinical questions were developed. They were identified through five main categories: Distal LAGC, Proximal LAGC, Deficient mismatch repair tumors, Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy, and Elderly/Unfit patients. After two rounds of voting by our multidisciplinary expert panel, eleven out of a total thirteen clinical questions had reached consensus. No consensus was reached for two clinical questions.

Conclusion

The APGCC consensus statement aims to guide clinicians in the treatment options for LAGC and Siewert 3 junctional cancer and has clarified some of the roles of perioperative chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Keywords

Chemotherapy; Gastrectomy; Gastric cancer surgery; Immunotherapy; Locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma; Modified Delphi consensus.

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