Treatments for stage 3 stomach cancer

The following are treatment options for stage 3 stomach cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery

Surgery is one of the main treatments for stage 3 stomach cancer.

Gastrectomy

A gastrectomy to remove all or part of the stomach is the most common type of surgery to treat stage 3 cancer.

Lymph node dissection

A lymph node dissection is done to remove lymph nodes around the stomach for stage 3 stomach cancer.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a main treatment for stage 3 stomach cancer. Chemotherapy may be given before (neoadjuvant therapy) or after surgery (adjuvant therapy) or both before and after surgery (perioperative chemotherapy). It may also be given over the same time period as radiation therapy (called chemoradiation). The most common combinations of chemotherapy drugs given for stage 3 stomach cancer are:

• 5-fluorouracil (Adrucil, 5-FU) and leucovorin (folonic acid)
• ECF – epirubicin (Pharmorubicin), cisplatin (Platinol AQ) and 5-fluorouracil
• ECX – epirubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine (Xeloda)
• cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil
• paclitaxel (Taxol) and carboplatin (Paraplatin)

Chemoradiation

Radiation therapy may be offered for stage 3 stomach cancer along with chemotherapy. The type of radiation therapy used most often is external beam radiation therapy.

Clinical trials

You may be asked if you want to join a clinical trial for stomach cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.