Chemotherapy of elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

The incidence of lung cancer increases with age, and non-small-cell histotypes account for approximately 85% of lung cancers in patients aged older than 65 years. Results of large multicentric trials provide no evidence that elderly lung cancer patients who receive systemic chemotherapy have a worse outcome than younger patients. There is, however, an underrepresentation of older patients in cancer treatment trials, at least in part due to the stringent eligibility criteria of these trials. Recent studies specifically designed for elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer have shown that chemotherapy improves survival and disease-related symptoms also in this age group. However, the degree of comorbidity was found to affect both the tolerance to treatment and the survival outcome.