Ensuring Comprehensive Support and Long Term Success for Patients Receiving DFLOT

This segment focuses on the infrastructure, communication practices, and follow up strategies that meaningfully influence outcomes for patients receiving perioperative therapy and surgery for gastric and GE junction cancers. The discussion begins with how academic centers leverage multidisciplinary resources including dietitians, nurse navigators, integrated specialty teams, and rapid access to telehealth to monitor patients closely and address complications early. Panelists reflect on how these elements can be replicated in community settings and highlight the importance of seamless communication between surgical teams and outside oncology practices, particularly when postoperative care is shared across institutions. The conversation then shifts to what constitutes success one year after surgery. The panel emphasizes both quality of life measures and disease related milestones. Stabilized weight, adequate nutrition, functional recovery, and return to baseline activities are paired with ongoing surveillance to confirm the absence of recurrence. Collectively, these perspectives underscore how coordinated, proactive follow up can support long term recovery and optimize the benefits of DFLOT.