Targeted Therapy for Gastric Cancer: 26 Real Stories

Gastric cancer treatment during hemodialysis after liver recurrence

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-negative

Metastatic Site: liver|peritoneum

The cancer progressed in the peritoneum despite treatment, and systemic therapy was stopped in August 2024 before transfer to hospice in October 2024.

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Gastric cancer surgery and adjuvant treatment followed by endocrine complications

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

After cancer treatment, she was hospitalized with severe nutritional and endocrine complications and improved with hormone replacement and nutritional support.

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Stage IV gastric cancer with benign breast hemangioma during ramucirumab therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, Under 40 | Stage IV

Biomarkers: Gastric cancer: HER2 negative, PD-L1 TPS >=5%

Metastatic Site: peritoneum; preaortic lymph nodes; omentum

After initial response to FOLFOX/nivolumab and temporary benefit from paclitaxel/ramucirumab and FOLFIRI, the gastric cancer progressed to massive ascites. Trifluridine/tipiracil was attempted, but she died from rapid disease progression.

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Stage IV HER2-Positive Gastric Cancer With Immune Thrombocytopenia During Treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2 amplified; PD-L1 CPS 10; pMMR; Claudin18.2 overexpression

Metastatic Site: liver, omentum

CT in March 2024 showed progression with enlarging gastric and omental lymphadenopathy and new liver metastases.

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ALK-Fusion Gastric Cancer Responds to Alectinib Before Progression

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: DCTN1–ALK fusion; ATM p.E1724*; CDK6 amplification; HER2 negative; mismatch-repair proteins intact; later KRAS amplification

Metastatic Site: bone

Alectinib produced a partial response for about 11.5 months, but the cancer later progressed systemically and she died from uncontrollable gastrointestinal bleeding.

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HER2-Positive Metastatic Stomach Cancer Presenting With Tumor Lysis Syndrome

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male | Stage Metastatic/Advanced

Biomarkers: HER2 positive

Metastatic Site: liver

His metastatic gastric cancer progressed despite FOLFOX6 and trastuzumab. He entered hospice about 1 year later and died a few months afterward.

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Metastatic gastric cancer with an ATM mutation responding to olaparib

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: Pathogenic germline ATM mutation, HER2-negative, PD-L1 15%

Metastatic Site: peritoneum

He had a deep response lasting about 18 months, but imaging in December 2023 again showed peritoneal carcinomatosis.

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Painful eye metastasis from Stage IV gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: bone, choroid of left eye

The eye surgery relieved his pain, but he died 2 months later.

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Stage IV gastric cancer with a TP53 blood finding traced to clonal hematopoiesis

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 50s | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: distant lymph nodes

At age 57, 3 years 4 months after his Stage IV diagnosis, he remained alive after multiple lines of treatment; progression had occurred before his later-line regimens.

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HER2-positive metastatic gastric cancer responding to trastuzumab deruxtecan rechallenge

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: liver

After trastuzumab deruxtecan was restarted, his symptoms improved after the first cycle and imaging showed tumor shrinkage after 3 cycles. He was still receiving treatment without progression at the latest follow-up.

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Kidney Injury During Nivolumab Treatment for Stage IV Gastric Cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Kidney function and proteinuria improved after nivolumab was stopped, but the gastric cancer progressed. Restarted nivolumab was ineffective, and treatment was changed to irinotecan.

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Stage IV HER2-Positive Gastric Cancer: Bryan's Patient Story

Patient Info: Bryan Chagolla, Male, Under 40 | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: liver

Bryan had a strong response to trastuzumab deruxtecan in 2021. He died on May 13, 2022, surrounded by loved ones.

Stage IV gastric cancer with low platelets managed so chemotherapy could continue

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 60s | Stage IV

Chemotherapy was able to continue after partial splenic embolization, but the gastric cancer later progressed and she died from the disease.

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Stage IV gastric cancer with low platelets managed so chemotherapy could continue — Case 2

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 70+ | Stage IV

After partial splenic embolization, her platelet count recovered and thrombocytopenia did not recur. She was receiving second-line ramucirumab plus paclitaxel at the latest follow-up.

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Stage IV gastric cancer with gastric outlet obstruction treated with a stent

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 70+ | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: para-aortic lymph nodes

The second stent allowed her to continue eating solid food. She died from progressive gastric cancer 3 months after the repeat stent procedure.

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Ramucirumab and paclitaxel for metastatic gastric cancer in a patient receiving hemodialysis

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-negative

Metastatic Site: liver, distant lymph nodes

After about 16 months of disease control on paclitaxel plus ramucirumab, multiple liver metastases and distant lymph nodes progressed. Third-line irinotecan was stopped after severe toxicity, and supportive care followed.

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Stage II Gastric Cancer: Andy's Patient Story

Patient Info: Andy | Stage II

Andy was still undergoing treatment and reported that targeted therapy was the current treatment.

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Sjögren syndrome during nivolumab treatment for HER2-positive metastatic gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: liver, lungs, adrenal gland

One year after nivolumab was stopped, the shrinkage of lung metastases was maintained and the adrenal metastasis remained unchanged, although severe dry-mouth symptoms from treatment-related Sjögren syndrome persisted.

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Graves disease during nivolumab treatment for HER2-positive metastatic gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-positive

Metastatic Site: liver, brain

After progression through several treatment lines and development of brain metastasis, he died 4 months after evaluation for nivolumab-associated Graves disease, more than 1.5 years after his Stage IV gastric-cancer diagnosis.

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Nivolumab-related IgA kidney disease during treatment for Stage IV gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 70+ | Stage IV

The gastric tumor regrew while nivolumab was withheld. Kidney function improved with steroids, but recurrent pneumonia and poor performance status prevented immunotherapy from restarting.

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Clival skull-base metastasis during treatment for Stage IV gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 70+ | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-negative

Metastatic Site: peritoneum, cervical lymph nodes, pelvic bone, lungs,…

At publication he was alive on fourth-line treatment, with no disease progression for 6 months after the clival metastasis was treated and with sustained improvement in his cranial-nerve symptoms.

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Severe reversible neurologic toxicity after apatinib for metastatic gastric cancer

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 50s | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: bone, adrenal glands

At follow-up in April 2019, he was alive and independent about 7 years after his Stage IV diagnosis, with apatinib permanently stopped after the neurologic toxicity.

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Stage IV gastric cancer complicated by paraneoplastic dermatomyositis during nivolumab treatment

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 70+ | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: liver, lung, abdominal cavity

He died from rapidly worsening gastric cancer 142 days after the first nivolumab dose, roughly 14 months after his April 2017 diagnosis.

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Mixed adenocarcinoma-neuroendocrine gastric cancer progressing after multiple treatments

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: HER2-negative

Metastatic Site: liver

After progression through several treatments and development of liver metastasis, he was taking apatinib at the latest update.

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