Small cell lung carcinoma in the elderly.

Twenty-four patients over the age of 70 with small cell cancer of the lung were studied retrospectively. Ninety-two per cent of these patients had other concurrent medical disorders; 58 per cent had cardiac disease and 25 per cent had a second malignancy. The median survival of 20 treated patients was ten months, and the one-year survival was 30 per cent. Such elderly patients with multiple medical problems can benefit from combination chemotherapy.