[Survival benefit of an herbal formula for invigorating spleen for elderly patients with gastric cancer].

Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in treatment of gastric cancer, but still lacking large sample controlled trial to evaluate its efficacy.

Objective: To analyze the prognostic factors of 220 elderly patients with gastric cancer, and to further study the efficacy of an herbal formula for invigorating spleen and it modifications based on syndrome differentiation of TCM in treatment of gastric cancer in elderly patients and the influence on prognosis.