Management of small cell lung cancer in elderly.

BACKGROUND

There is increasing interest in the treatment of elderly small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients, however the patients enrolled in clinical studies are strictly selected elderlies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed the treatment of consecutive unselected patients more than 70 years of age in whom SCLC were diagnosed over the past 22 years.

RESULTS

In patients who received cisplatin-containing chemotherapy, response rate(RR) and mean survival time(MST) were 53.8% and 9 months. Whereas, in patients who were treated with carboplatin-containing chemotherapy, RR and MST were 72.0% and 7 months. The latter group included the patients whose doses of carboplatinum was reduced 20 to 50% in the first course of treatment. There was no difference found in RR, survival, and incidence of toxicity between these chemotherapy groups.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that in elderly SCLC patients, carboplatin could be substituted for cisplatin without apparent loss of therapeutic efficacy.