Current status and clinical issues of conversion therapy for advanced gastric cancer

Advanced gastric cancer, characterized by high heterogeneity and poor prognosis, has traditionally been managed with a palliative care‑centric comprehensive treatment. The concept of conversion therapy aims to reduce tumor staging and achieve complete tumor resection after comprehensive treatment of initially unresectable tumors, thereby improving patient prognosis. Recent large‑scale clinical studies have demonstrated that immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with chemotherapy can significantly increase the objective remission rate and improve the survival of patients with advanced gastric cancer. Meanwhile, with the extensive development of multidisci-plinary teams and the advancement of surgical techniques, conversion therapy has shown great potential in improving the prognosis of advanced gastric cancer. However, due to the complexity of advanced gastric cancer in terms of local staging, metastatic sites, and molecular typing, there are still many controversies and unanswered questions in the field of conversion therapy. The authors systematically elaborate on the research progress of gastric cancer conversion therapy both domes-tically and internationally, and explore the current status and clinical issues of conversion therapy for advanced gastric cancer.