Published online Apr 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i14.3905
Revised: December 27, 2013
Accepted: January 20, 2014
Published online: April 14, 2014
Processing time: 189 Days and 6.4 Hours
Core tip: Although palliative chemotherapy have been demonstrated to improve survival and quality of life, the prognosis of patients with metastatic gastric cancer remains poor and responses to first-line chemotherapy are partial and heterogeneous. In order to improve the results of currently available treatments, remarkable advancements in new targeted agents have recently been obtained. The addition of trastuzumab to cisplatin/fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy significantly improved survival in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive metastatic gastric cancer, which is now the new standard of care. Our manuscript will elucidate current systemic chemotherapy and promising targeted therapies for metastatic gastric cancer in the first- and second-line setting in the light of recent advances.