Chemotherapy in older cancer patients.

Results of chemotherapy studies in elderly patients are variable and frequently contradictory. One reason is that elderly patients with other underlying diseases are often excluded. Many of the protocols are not designed to evaluate only elderly patients, and even the definition of elderly is not uniform. Taking these limitations into account, when chemotherapy is used as the definitive form of treatment in elderly patients with lymphoma and leukemia, treatment related toxicity appears to be greater than in younger patients. When chemotherapy is used palliatively in elderly patients with solid tumors, it is usually well tolerated except for some increased hematologic toxicity.