Adjuvant treatment in gastric adenocarcinoma has been a challenge for the treating specialists, and despite several trials, a clear consensus is yet to be defined. The higher propensity for lymph nodal involvement and locoregional recurrences led to the hypothesis that locoregional and systemic treatments need to be equally aggressive to achieve better outcomes in the management of gastric adenocarcinoma. Regional, ethnic, and biological differences between the Eastern and Western population are also found to reflect in the tumor behavior and its response to treatment. The MAGIC (Medical Research Council Adjuvant Gastric Infusional Chemotherapy), Intergroup 0116, ACTS-GC (Adjuvant Chemotherapy Trial of S-1 for Gastric Cancer), CLASSIC (Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin Adjuvant Study in Stomach Cancer), ARTIST (Adjuvant Chemoradiation Therapy in Stomach Cancer), and the recently published CRITICS (Chemoradiotherapy after Induction Chemotherapy in Cancer of the Stomach) trials were a few of the randomized controlled trials that tried to give a clearer perspective of this tumor, though it still remains a dilemma. A study incorporating the tumor and demographic factors along with the availability of skilled talent and resources might generate an answer.
Keywords: Adenocarcinoma of stomach; adjuvant chemotherapy; induction chemoradiation; neo-adjuvant chemotherapy; non-metastatic; radiotherapy; surgery.