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Retrospective Study
Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2027; 33(2): 122397
Published online Jan 14, 2027. doi: 10.3748/wjg.122397
Surgical safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus apatinib and chemotherapy in locally advanced gastric cancer
Ze-Wei Cheng, Meng Wei, Yuan Zhang, Yi-Ze Liang, Wei-Bo Cao, Ru-Dong Zhao, Zhi-Bo Yan, Guo-Rui Sun, Xiao-Han Cui, Wen-Bin Yu
Ze-Wei Cheng, Meng Wei, Yi-Ze Liang, Wei-Bo Cao, Ru-Dong Zhao, Zhi-Bo Yan, Guo-Rui Sun, Xiao-Han Cui, Wen-Bin Yu, Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Yuan Zhang, Clinical Research Center, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Cheng ZW and Yu WB participated in the conception and design of the study and were involved in the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; Cheng ZW wrote the original draft and managed the project administration; Yu WB and Zhang Y accessed and verified the study data; Zhang Y performed the formal analysis, data curation, statistical analysis, and validation; Wei M, Liang YZ, Cao WB, Zhao RD, Yan ZB, Sun GR, and Cui XH were involved in the investigation, resources, data collection, and writing - review & editing. All authors critically reviewed and provided final approval of the manuscript, and were responsible for the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Supported by Horizontal Project of Shandong University, No. 6010123193, No. 6010121066, and No. 6010125120.
Institutional review board statement: This investigation was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. KYLL-202111-094-1.
Informed consent statement: All involved persons (subjects or legally authorized representative) gave their informed consent prior to study inclusion.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Wen-Bin Yu, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. 107 Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China. wenbin_yu2003@163.com
Received: April 17, 2026
Revised: May 10, 2026
Accepted: June 10, 2026
Published online: January 14, 2027
Processing time: 205 Days and 22.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This retrospective study of 292 patients with locally advanced gastric cancer demonstrated that programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitors plus apatinib and chemotherapy (PAC) significantly improved tumor regression response and survival outcomes compared with preoperative chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant therapy. The PAC regimen increased intraoperative blood loss, but did not compromise other surgical outcomes or postoperative recovery. Indocyanine green fluorescence guidance in the PAC group reduced the open conversion rate and enhanced lymph node yield. The PAC regimen was an independent prognostic predictor on multivariate analyses. Overall, PAC appears to be a promising neoadjuvant treatment option for locally advanced gastric cancer.

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