Treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer in special populations.

The benefits of chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients remains, to some extent, restricted to younger patients with a good performance status (PS). It has long been assumed that chemotherapy is too toxic and of marginal benefit for elderly NSCLC patients and those with a PS of 2. Nevertheless, retrospective analyses and more recent prospective trials have suggested that such patients enjoy longer survival and a better quality of life when treated with chemotherapy. This article will review the data and discuss their clinical implications.