A comprehensive geriatric assessment is more effective than clinical judgment to identify elderly diffuse large cell lymphoma patients who benefit from aggressive therapy.

Background: The authors set out to analyze if a simple comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) could objectively identify elderly patients with diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLCL) who can be effectively treated with anthracycline-containing immunochemotherapy.

Methods: CGA was performed in 84 consecutive patients with DLCL aged >65 years and diagnosed at a single institution. Treatment with curative versus palliative intent was chosen according to clinical judgment.

Recombinant granulocyte-colony stimulating factor as treatment for poor prognosis oligoblastic acute myeloid leukemia in elderly patients.

Twenty-five elderly patients with oligoblastic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) received subcutaneous granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (filgrastim) in addition to supportive care. Ninety-two percent of the patients had multilineage dysplasia, 17% hypoplasia, and 48% a high-risk karyotype. During filgrastim treatment neutrophil and platelet counts increased significantly (p<0.