Chemotherapy effect and prognosis analysis of elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Objective To evaluate the curative effect and toxicities of platinum-based double regimens for patients aged ≥ 65 with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and identify the prognosis factors. Methods 70 patients aged ≥65 with staged ⅢA-Ⅳ NSCLC, who received platinum-based double regimens as first line treatment, were emrolled.Response rates and toxicities were evaluated.Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression analysis was used to identify the potential prognosis factors.Results The median chemotherapy cycles was 3.The overall response rate was 41.5 % (22/53), and there was no difference between patients aged ＜70 and ≥70 (χ2 =1.945, P =0.378).The median PFS and OS were 6.0 months and 12.5 months.The chemotherapyrelated hematologic toxicities were common.Multivariate analysis revealed that performance status, numbers of metastasis, chemotherapy cycles were significant independent predictive factors for OS. Conclusion In elderly advanced NSCLC, platinum-based doublets show inspiring efficacy, but with more adverse events, and could not be all well tolerated. It should be personalized. Patients with poor performance status and multiple organs metastasis are hard to benefit from combined chemotherapy.Three to six cycles of chemotherapy is the optimal duration for patients who could be well tolerated. Key words: Carcinoma, non-small-cell lung; Aged; Antineoplastic combined chemotherapy protocols; Treatment outcome; Prognosis