Objective To observe the efficacy of integrative medical pathway in treating gastric cancer.Methods Totally 200 gastric cancer patients were randomized into the pathway group and control group

with 100 in each. In the pathway group

treatment combining with Traditional Chinese Medicine（ TCM） Clinical Pathway for Gastric Cancer by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and an integrative clinical pathway by the authors’ hospital was adopted

which included TCM syndrome differentiation to choose Chinese patent medicine and western medicine and using characteristic TCM therapies according to disease conditions. For patients with chemotherapy indications in the control group

the appropriate chemotherapy was chosen according to Gastric Cancer NCCN Guidelines（ China）. At the same time

the treatment of protecting the stomach with antacids

enhancing immunity

nutritional support

maintaining water and electrolyte balance was applied. Routine treatment was given to patients with side effects of chemotherapy. Patients without chemotherapy indications received supportive treatment. Patients with gastric cancer related complications received symptomatic treatment. The treatment courses of both groups were the whole hospitalization period. After treatment

the scores of hospital stays

medical costs

quality of life（ QOL）and TCM symptom scores were assessed in both groups. Results The hospital stays in pathway group was significantly shorter than that in the control group（ P < 0. 05）

but with no obvious decrease of medical cost（ P > 0. 05）.Comparing with the control group

the QOL score and TCM symptoms were significantly improved in pathway group（ P <0.05）. As for TCM symptom scores

there were 27 cases of markedly effectiveness

54 cases of effectiveness and 19 cases of ineffectiveness in the pathway group and the total effective rate was 81%

while 15 cases of markedly effectiveness

48 cases of effectiveness and 37 cases of ineffectiveness in the control group and the total effective rate was 63%. The difference between groups had statistical significance（ P < 0. 01）. Conclusion Integrative medical pathway can reduce hospital stays

relieve TCM symptoms and enhance QOL in patients with gastric cancer. But the pathway still needs to be further completed.