Anti-cancer drugs
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Apatinib has been proven to be effective and safe among patients in the third-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer in phase II and III trials. We aimed to evaluate its efficacy and safety in second-line practice, and to explore the factors associated with efficacy. Between April 2015 and May 2017, a total of 23 patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma or adenocarcinoma of gastroesophageal junction were enrolled and followed up retrospectively after failing the first line of systemic therapy. ⋯ The most common adverse events over grade 3 were hypertension (8.7%) and thrombocytopenia (8.7%). No treatment-related death was documented during the drug administration. Apatinib is an effective regimen for the second-line treatment of advanced gastric and gastroesophageal cancer with manageable toxicity.