Cisplatin-based chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced stage (IIIB and IV) non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related mortality and approximately 70% of patients present with locally advanced or metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. More than 50% of lung cancer cases are diagnosed in patients over the age of 65 years. The doublet chemotherapies consisting of platinum plus one of the third-generation agents become currently the standard regimen, the first line chemotherapy The most of the available data regarding the optimal treatment of lung cancer comes from clinical trials in which the vast majority of patients are significantly younger than 65 years of age. We aimed to investigate whether there is any difference in tolerability and efficacy in between adult(<65 years old) and elderly(≥65 years old) patients who received cisplatin based chemoteherapy or chemoradiotherapy for stage IIIB and IV non-small cell lun cancer. We retrospectively evaluated the total 134 patients with advanced stage (stage IIIB or IV) NSCLC, in Ondokuzmayıs University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pulmonary Medicine between 2001 and 2004. The response rates were 30.3% in adults and 28.8% in elderly patients. The median survival was 13.6±1.4 months and 11.8±2.0 months for adults and elderly patients, respectively. The one-year, two year and five year survival rates were 37%, 9% , 4% for adult patients and 29%, 7%, 4% for elderly patients, respectively. There was no statistical difference between the groups. Percentages of grade 3-4 anemia (0% vs 6.6%) and grade 3-4 neutropenia (0% vs 4.4%) were higher in elderly patients than adult patients. Other toxic effects were similar among both of groups. In conclussion; standart cisplatin containing chemotherapy regimens (cisplatin plus gemcitabine or vinorelbine) can be used in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.