Adjuvant chemotherapy in elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND More than two thirds of patients who die of lung cancer in the United States are over 65 years of age. More than 50% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed over the age of 65 and about 30% over the age of 70. METHODS The authors review recent data from large randomized trials on adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with NSCLC. They discuss age-related changes in organ function, comorbidities and frailty in the elderly, and chemotherapy treatment in elderly patients with NSCLC. RESULTS Randomized trials suggest that postoperative chemotherapy improves survival after surgery in patients with stage IB to IIIA NSCLC, and awareness of the efficacy of this approach is growing in the scientific community. Clinical data obtained in the young population cannot be automatically adopted in the elderly counterpart. Elderly patients tolerate chemotherapy poorly because of comorbidity and organ failure, and after lung surgery they are considered at higher risk of chemotherapy-induced toxicity. The survival benefit obtained with platin-based chemotherapy may vanish or decrease in the elderly due to a potential higher toxic death rate or lower compliance to treatment. CONCLUSIONS Modified schedules or attenuated dose of platin-containing chemotherapy should be investigated in the adjuvant setting by specifically designed trials. Specifically designed prospective trials are needed to elucidate the role of this approach in the elderly.