Review for 10.1186/s12876-022-02440-5 (2022)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Total neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced gastric cancer and esophagogastric junction
adenocarcinoma: Study protocol for a prospective, multicenter, single-arm, phase II clinical trial
Version: 
0 
Date: 
25 Jun 2022
Reviewer's report:
In the submitted manuscript by Shi et al. the authors propose a study protocol for a total neoadjuvant
therapy in patients undergoing surgical resection for gastric cancer. The study is well designed and the
interventional and control group are well defined. I think that this study will generate additional evidence
in this field, however I have a few minor remarks that should be addressed before acceptance. 
1) What is the reason for excluding patients over 70 years in general? Especially older patients often fail
to complete postoperative therapy and therefore it could be helpful to have data for this group of patients.
Otherwise the authors should explain, why the excluded these patients. 
2) 
The authors describe that all operations will be performed by an "experienced surgical team". What
does this mean? How many procedures does these teams have to have performed at least? 
3) Are there any minimum requirements for lymphadenectomy and lymph node clearance? The authors
describe that they recommend D2-lymphadenectomy but how will ths be controlled? 
If these points are addressed, I would recommend to accept the manuscript for publication in BMC
gastroenterology.
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use of appropriate controls),
and are the conclusions supported by the evidence presented?
Yes
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
Yes
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free from apparent
manipulation?
Yes