Patient case (clinical description): A 63-year-old man comes to the clinic for recent unintentional weight loss. The patient also has epigastric discomfort after meals. He has no known medical problems and takes no medications. His blood pressure is 130/75 and pulse rate is 88/min. He is not febrile. Upper endoscopy shows a lesion in the stomach that shows typical features of diffuse-type adenocarcinoma presenting with signet ring cells that do not form glands.

Patient's own account: I went to the clinic because I had been losing so much weight that it was concerning. I'm a 63-year-old guy, and it is something rather unusual. I'm always suffering from stomachache after every meal. I've never been sick, and I don't take any medicine. The doctor took my blood pressure and told me it was 130/75, and my pulse rate was 88/min. I'm not febrile! I also had to do an endoscopy, and they found a lesion in my stomach that shows typical features of stomach cancer. I'm totally devastated...

Clinical trial: Docetaxel and Epirubicin as First-Line Therapy in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach

Eligibility criteria:
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

          -  Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the stomach

               -  Locally advanced or metastatic disease

          -  Measurable disease

               -  At least 1 unidimensionally measurable target lesion at least 2 cm in diameter

          -  No known symptomatic brain metastases

          -  No bone metastases

        PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

        Age

          -  18 to 75

        Performance status

          -  ECOG 0-2

        Life expectancy

          -  At least 3 months

        Hematopoietic

          -  Absolute neutrophil count at least 2,000/mm^3

          -  Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm^3

        Hepatic

          -  Bilirubin less than 2 times normal

          -  AST and ALT no greater than 2.5 times normal

          -  Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2.5 times normal

        Renal

          -  Creatinine less than 1.6 mg/dL OR

          -  Creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min

        Cardiovascular

          -  No serious cardiac failure within the past 12 months

          -  No myocardial infarction within the past 12 months

          -  No cardiac insufficiency

          -  No angina

        Other

          -  Not pregnant or nursing

          -  Fertile patients must use effective contraception

          -  No uncontrolled serious infection

          -  No significant brain or psychiatric disorders

          -  No intolerance to cortisone or polysorbate 80

          -  No other prior malignancy except curatively treated basal cell skin cancer or
             carcinoma in situ of the cervix

          -  No other illness or medical condition that would preclude study participation

          -  No peripheral neuropathy greater than grade 2

        PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

        Biologic therapy

          -  Not specified

        Chemotherapy

          -  No prior chemotherapy

        Endocrine therapy

          -  Not specified

        Radiotherapy

          -  Not specified

        Surgery

          -  Not specified

        Other

          -  More than 21 days since prior participation in another clinical study

          -  No other concurrent experimental medication
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
No healthy subjects accepted to join the trial.
Subject must be at least 18 Years old.
Subject must be at most 75 Years

Eligibility (NLI label): Entailment