Chuantao Zhang, Xiaofei Wang, Xiaomei Xu, Wenjun Yu, Airong Tan, Congmin Liu, Chun Yan, Lihua Deng, Xiaofeng Cheng, Helei Hou, Xiaochun Zhang

Cancer Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University

Objective:Apatinib, a selective inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, is now approved as a treatment option for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic gastric cancers. This retrospective study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of apatinib in advanced garstric cancer patients, especially the paitents with active hemorrhage. Method: 12 patients with advanced gastric cancer, including 5 patients with active hemorrhage were enrolled in this single centre, retrospective study. All the patients signed informed consent before accepting Apatinib therapy and the regimen was 850 mg once daily (28 days as one cycle). Primary outcomes were objective response and tolerability. tients, especially the paitents with active hemorrhage. Result: 1 case of the enrolled patient dropped out before response evaluation. Amongthe 11patients, PR, SD and PD rate was 9.09% (1/11), 63.63% (7/11) and 27.27% (3/11) respectively. The median progress free survival (mPFS) is 2.0 months. Toxicities were tolerable or could be clinically managed. The most common grade 3 to 4 adverse events were proteinuria, hypertension, hand-foot syndrome, and liver toxicities. Most of the adverse reaction could be managed by dose interruptions or reductions. Notably, the active homorraghe was not aggravated. On the contrary, the occult blood in stool turned negative after treatment. Conclusion: Our observation confirmed the efficacy and safety of Apatinib in the patients with advanced gastric cancer. For the patients with active hemorrhage, Apatinib could be used under close monitoring.

Key Words: gastic cancer  apatinib  targeted therapy