Onkológia 5/2012

Treatment of advanced metastatic lung cancer in older patients

Treatment results in older patients with advanced metastatic lung cancer have changed to better during the last years. Chemotherapy prolongs survival and improves quality of life both in non-small cell and small-cell lung cancer. In addition, targeted therapies, especially EGFR TKIs (tyrosine kinase inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor) are as effective in the older patients as in the younger ones. In spite of this, pessimism of the health care professionals and publics regarding treatment relevance remains, at least in part. To change this pessimistic view we need not only the new drugs prolonging survival but also the better care for the symptomatic patients with exhausted anticancer treatments.

Keywords: lung cancer, older patients, chemotherapy, targeted therapy.