Comparison of Survival of Patients With Lung Cancer Between Elderly (greater double equals70) and Younger (70>) Age Groups

Results of radiotherapy for lung cancer in the elderly werecompared with those in younger patients. A total of 129 patientswere treated by radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy.Fifty-six patients (43.4%) were 70 years old or more (elderlygroup) at the time of treatment, and the remaining 73 patientswere below age 70 (younger group). Treatment results in the elderly group were nearly the sameas those in the younger group in all stages of the disease.Survival time was longer for patients with performance status(PS) of 0 to 2 than for those with PS 3 or 4 regardless of age(p < 0.05). The survival time of the elderly group was nearlythe same as that of the younger group for squamous cell carcinoma,but somewhat shorter for adenocarcinoma although the differencewas not statistically significant. There was no difference insurvival between the two groups when they were treated by combinedradiation therapy and chemotherapy. Our results suggest thatelderly patients can be treated as safely as younger patientsby radiotherapy alone or combined radiation therapy and chemotherapy.