Comparison of the incidence and severity of side effects profile of FOLFOX and DCF regimens in gastric cancer patients

Gastric cancer is the fourth common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Due to lack of adequate information on the side effects of chemotherapy regimens in treatment of gastric cancer, this study was aimed to determine the side effects of two common chemotherapy regimens of gastric cancer. This prospective study was conducted in Emam Khomeini educational hospital and Touba Polyclinic, both are affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. The frequency and severity of side effects of chemotherapy were recorded based on the National Cancer Institution (NCI) Toxicity Criteria (version 2). DCF (Docetaxel, Cisplatin, 5FU) and FOLFOX (Folinic acid, 5FU, Oxaliplatin) adverse reactions were compared using SPSS 16 software. One hundred twenty five chemotherapy cycles administered to seventy four patients were assessed. The most common used regimens were DCF (70%) and FOLFOX (16%). The incidence of vomiting was higher with DCF compared to FOLFOX (P=0.049). In more than 50% of cycles, DCF regimen caused diarrhea, while in FOLFOX regimen it was less than 9% (P=0.002). Stomatitis, visual changes, nausea, skin reactions and constipation were not significantly different between the two regimens. It seems that the adverse drug reactions of FOLFOX regimen were more favorable than DCF regimen. The results of this study may help clinicians choosing a more favorable chemotherapy regimen especially in patients with a low performance status who have difficulties in tolerating a chemotherapy regimen with a more severe adverse effect profile.