Treatment Compliance and Outcome in Geriatric Patients with Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Experience from India

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate treatment compliance, toxicity and survival in geriatric patients (≥65 years) with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). Methods: Departmental archive was collected for the details of demographics, treatment and outcome in elderly patients with LA-NSCLC (2008 - 2013) (n = 96). Both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method. Acute and late morbidity were scored using common terminology criteria for adverse events version 4, radiation therapy and oncology group late morbidity scoring system. Results: Overall treatment completion rate was 65%. The rates of acute grade ≥ 3 hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities were 20% and 17% respectively. Overall rate of late toxicity was 12.5%. The median PFS and OS values were 7.4 months and 10.54 months, respectively. Patients with multiple comorbidities, poor socio-economic background and serum albumin level (< 3.5g/dL) were observed to have poor survival. Survival was lower for non-compliant patients. Conclusions: Curative multi-modality therapy in elderly patients with LA-NSCLC is a challenging task. They are susceptible to poor compliance, treatment-associated toxicities and poor survival.