WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies in Asia, especially in China, Korea, and Japan [1]. It is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality in China, and Chinese patients with gastric cancer account for 42 % of the worldwide patient population with gastric cancer [2]. Surgical resection of the tumor is the most effective approach in increasing the long-term sur-vival of patients with early stage gastric cancer [3]. The five-year survival rate of patients with resectable gastric cancer in advanced stages (stages III or IV) can be improved through combined surgical management with perioperative chemotherapy [4]. The benefits of pre-operative chemotherapy (neo-adjuvant chemotherapy) for patients with gastric cancer are as follows: reduces tumor volume, which results in tumor downstage, im-proves the R0 resection rate (no residual tumor after surgery), acts on micrometastasis, decreases the risk of local tumor recurrence, and aids in evaluating tumor chemosensitivity to cytotoxic drugs [5-10]. In locally ad- * Correspondence