[Treatment for elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer].

Recently, with the increasing population of elderly people, the number of patients who suffer from lung cancer has been increasing, necessitating the establishment of treatment for elderly lung cancer patients. However, a standard therapy, for elderly lung cancer patients, including surgical treatment, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, has not been established for the following reasons: (1) there is a difference between calendar age and actual age; and (2) most elderly lung cancer patients are excluded from general clinical study. As a matter of fact, even in elderly patients with good performance status, routine treatments could sometimes cause unpredicted complications. Therefore, some guidelines for treatment of elderly lung cancer patients are necessary. Here, the author reviews the recent common views for treatment of elderly lung cancer patients.