The "metronomic" strategy was also considered in pretreated elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer. Eligible patients with advanced gastric cancer were treated with capecitabine until disease progression or significant toxicity. Metronomic chemotherapy achieved a disease control rate at 8 weeks of 51.1% , and the objective response rate was 20.9% . The median time-to-progression and median overall survival were 3.6 months and 7.6 months, respectively. Grade II neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were observed in 13.3 and 2.2% of patients, respectively. Grade II/III nonhematological toxicities included diarrhea (4.4%), stomatitis (13.4%), and hand-foot syndrome (15.5%). No grade 4 toxicity, neutropenic fever or treatment-related deaths occurred.