AIM:To study the effects of preoperative regional arterychemotherapy(PRACT)in inducing growth inhibition andapoptosis of gastric carcinoma(GC)cells.METHODS:TUNEL(terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferaseTdT-mediated dUTP-fluorescein and labeling)method andimmunohistochemical techniques were used to detect thestate of apoptosis and proliferation of GC cells inhistopathologic sections.A total of 110 cases of GC and 68cases of metastatic lymph node with or without PRACT wereadopted.Correlations between apoptosis index(AI),proliferation index(PI)and PRACT and prognosis wereanalysed.RESULTS:The apoptosis index(AI)was significantly higherin the PRACT group(12.5‰±4.33‰)than in the untreatedgroup(7.1‰±3.43‰,P<0.001),whereas theproliferation index(PI)in the PRACT group(33.8%±8.8%)was significantly lower than that in untreated group(43.6%±12.8%,P<0.01).Both AI and PI were correlated tothe differentiation degree of GC in PRACT group,the AI inthe differentiated group was higher than that inundifferentiated group(P<0.001),but the PI was lower inthe differentiated group than that of the undifferentiatedgroup(P<0.01).The AI of GC cells in metastatic lymphnode was also significantly higher in the PRACT group(7.9‰±3.41‰)than in the untreated group(3.6‰±2.93‰,P<0.01),though the PI of GC cells in metastatic lymphnodes in the PRACT group(17.2%±6.8%)wassignificantly lower than that in the untreated group(26.7%±9.3%,P<0.01).The severity of histopathologicchanges was significantly higher in the PRACT group than inthe untreated group(P<0.05).In addition,postoperativesurveys demonstrated that the 5-year survival rate of GCpatients in the PRACT group was significantly higher than thatof patients in the untreated group(P<0.01).CONCLUSION:Preoperative regional artery chemotherapy(PRACT)showed inhibitory action on the growth of GC cellsmainly through inhibiting proliferation and inducing theapoptosis of tumor cells.PRACT can improve the prognosisof GC patients also. AIM: To study the effects of preoperative regional artery chemotherapy (PRACT) in inducing growth inhibition and apoptosis of gastric carcinoma (GC) cells. METHODS: TUNEL (terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase TdT-mediated dUTP-fluorescein and labeling) method and immunohistochemical techniques were used to detect Thestate of apoptosis and proliferation of GC cells inhistopathologic sections.A total of 110 cases of GC and 68cases of metastatic lymph node with or without PRACT wereadopted.Correlations between apoptosis index (AI),proliferation index(PI) and PRACT and prognosis wereanalysed.RESULTS :The apoptosis index (AI) was significantly higher in the PRACT group (12.5‰4.33‰) than in the untreatedgroup (7.1‰±3.43‰, P<0.001), whereas theproliferation index(PI)in the PRACT group (33.8%± 8.8%)was significantly lower than that in intreated group(43.6%±12.8%,P<0.01).Both AI and PI were correlated to the differentiation degree of GC in PRACT group,the AI ​​inthe differentiated group was higher than that i Nundifferentiated group (P<0.001), but the PI was lower in the differentiated group than that of the undifferentiated group (P<0.01). The AI ​​of GC cells in metastatic lymphnode was also significantly higher in the PRACT group (7.9‰±3.41‰) Compared with the in untreated group (3.6‰±2.93‰, P<0.01), though the PI of GC cells in metastatic lymphnodes in the PRACT group (17.2%±6.8%) wassignificantly lower than that in the untreated group (26.7%±9.3 %,P<0.01).The severity of histopathologic changes was significantly higher in the PRACT group than inthe untreated group(P<0.05).In addition,postoperativesurveys showed that the 5-year survival rate of GCpatients in the PRACT group was significantly higher than That of patients in the untreated group(P<0.01).CONCLUSION:Preoperative regional artery chemotherapy(PRACT)showed inhibitory action on the growth of GC cellsmainly through inhibiting proliferation and inducing the apoptosis of tumor cells.PRACT can improve the prognosis of GC patients also.