Retrospective study of intra-peritoneal chemotherapy for T3-4 gastric cancer        WEI Zhe-wei，ZHANG Chang-hua，XIA Guang-gai，et al. Department of Gastrointestinal Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China 
Corresponding author: ZHANG Chang-hua, E-mail: zhchangh@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Abstract    Objective    To evaluate efficacy of intra-peritoneal chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer.  Methods Between January 2008 and March 2011, patients with T3-4 gastric cancer who were performed radical dissection only (non-IOC group, n=245) or radical dissection plus intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (IOC group, n=86) in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Clinicopathological characteristics and survival status were compared between the two groups. Results    Postoperative complications occurred in 5.8 % patients in the IOC group which was significantly higher than that in the non-IOC group (p=0.048). Recurrence rate was 18.6% in the IOC group and 12.2% in the non-IOC group (p=0.142). Two-year overall survival in the IOC group was 64.0% which was similar to that in the non-IOC group (63.4%, p=0.742). Multivariate analysis showed that intra-peritoneal chemotherapy was not an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients (HR=0.918, P=0.742). Conclusions    Intra-peritoneal chemotherapy may be related to increasing postoperative complications while its effect on recurrence and prognosis should be further investigated.