Onkologie. 2007:1(1):28-31

Lung cancer in elderly

Mária Wagnerová

Klinika rádioterapie a onkológie VOÚ, a.s., Košice

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Europe and USA. The median age of diagnosis is currently 69 years, however this is gradually increasing with the aging population. Patients over age of 70 represent 40 % of all patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Age alone has not been found to be a significant prognostic factor in many malignancies, including lung cancer with performance status and stage being of greater importance. In lung cancer it is also evident that older patients gain equivalent benefit from cancer therapies as their younger counterparts. Elderly patients are under-treated in all aspects of their disease course from histological diagnosis to active therapy with surgical resection, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, irrespective of performance status or co-morbidities. Elderly patients are also underrepresented in lung cancer clinical trials. In this review is presented knowledge’s about lung cancer in elderly.

Keywords: Key words: lung cancer, elderly, treatment. Key words MeSH: lung neoplasms – drug therapy, surgery, aged; lung neoplasms – radiotherapy, aged.

Published: May 5, 2007  Show citation