{"doi":"10.1159/000151360","title":"Prolongation of Survival and Improvement in Performance Status following Palliative Chemotherapy in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients with a Poor Performance Status","abstract":"<jats:p>&lt;i&gt;Background:&lt;/i&gt; The prognosis of advanced gastrointestinal cancer, especially in patients with poor performance status (PS), is generally dismal. Patients with PS 3–4 are almost ineligible for participation in clinical studies. &lt;i&gt;Patients and Methods:&lt;/i&gt; From June 2000 to February 2007, 116 patients with poor PS (PS 3 = 73 and PS 4 = 43) were treated with chemotherapy. Retrospective analysis was performed. &lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt; Of the 107 patients with at least one measurable lesion, a partial response was obtained in 15 patients (14.0%). Of 65 patients with ascites and/or pleural effusion, 12 patients achieved decreased fluid accumulation. A decline in tumor markers was observed in 30 patients. As a result, 38 patients (32.7%) achieved tumor response, a decrease in fluid accumulation or a decline in tumor markers (responders), which resulted in a survival benefit compared to the other 78 patients without effect (6.9 vs. 2.2 months, p &lt; 0.001). PS improvement was seen in 16 patients (13.8%). &lt;i&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/i&gt; The results suggest that chemotherapy may be beneficial in gastrointestinal cancer patients with poor PS, as demonstrated by a certain degree of improvement in PS and survival in responders. Further study is required to confirm the benefit of chemotherapy in this patient population.</jats:p>","journal":"Oncology","year":2008,"id":631129,"datarank":0.26876392038420827,"base_score":1.791759469228055,"endowment":1.791759469228055,"self_citation_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1635449,"name":"Masaki Munakata","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1635450,"name":"Masaharu Kasai","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1635451,"name":"Osamu Muto","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1635452,"name":"Yuh Sakata","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":788862,"name":"Kohei Shitara","orcid":"0000-0001-5196-3630","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Prolongation of Survival and Improvement in Performance Status following Palliative Chemotherapy in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients with a Poor Performance Status","abstract":"<jats:p>&lt;i&gt;Background:&lt;/i&gt; The prognosis of advanced gastrointestinal cancer, especially in patients with poor performance status (PS), is generally dismal. Patients with PS 3–4 are almost ineligible for participation in clinical studies. &lt;i&gt;Patients and Methods:&lt;/i&gt; From June 2000 to February 2007, 116 patients with poor PS (PS 3 = 73 and PS 4 = 43) were treated with chemotherapy. Retrospective analysis was performed. &lt;i&gt;Results:&lt;/i&gt; Of the 107 patients with at least one measurable lesion, a partial response was obtained in 15 patients (14.0%). Of 65 patients with ascites and/or pleural effusion, 12 patients achieved decreased fluid accumulation. A decline in tumor markers was observed in 30 patients. As a result, 38 patients (32.7%) achieved tumor response, a decrease in fluid accumulation or a decline in tumor markers (responders), which resulted in a survival benefit compared to the other 78 patients without effect (6.9 vs. 2.2 months, p &lt; 0.001). PS improvement was seen in 16 patients (13.8%). &lt;i&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/i&gt; The results suggest that chemotherapy may be beneficial in gastrointestinal cancer patients with poor PS, as demonstrated by a certain degree of improvement in PS and survival in responders. Further study is required to confirm the benefit of chemotherapy in this patient population.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"18714163","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"closed","license":"https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/151360","host_type":"publisher"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Gastrointestinal Neoplasms","Pleural Effusion, Malignant","Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols","Prognosis","Karnofsky Performance Status","Survival Rate","Retrospective Studies","Adult","Aged","Aged, 80 and over","Middle Aged","Female","Male"],"keywords":[],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-05T22:53:21.020861Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}