INTRODUCTION: Although decreasing in the well developed countries, gastric adenocarcinoma still represents the third most common cancer in males worldwide. Its mortality is very high because of the lateness of its diagnosis over advanced lesions, which turns palliative its treatment in the majority of the cases. METHOD: Literature review using CAPES, PubMed and Bireme sites as well as the abstracts of the 8 º International Gastric Cancer Congress which was held in Krakow in 2009. CONCLUSIONS: The release of new anticancer drugs against gastric cancer is providing a revival of gastrectomy as an effective palliative treatment of advanced gastric cancer. New protocols are being published, showing better results in the treatment of this disease.
Stomach; Adenocarcinoma; Paliative care; Surgery; Drug therapy
