[The retrospective analysis of different therapies on 150 elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.].

Background: There is still no standard regiment for the treatment of advanced elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to explore the best method for the advanced elderly NSCLC patients by analyzing the efficacy and toxicity of cisplatin combined chemotherapy, docetaxel chemotherapy and the best support care (BSC).

Methods: One hundred and fifty elderly NSCLC patients (>=65 years) with different treatments from March 2003 to March 2007 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: The objective response rate (ORR) was 41.2% in cisplatin combined chemotherapy, which was significantly higher than 20.0% in docetaxel chemotherapy (P <0.05). Median survival time (MST) was 10.7 months, 9.2 months and 6.3 months, and one year survival rate was 39.7%, 36.7% and 17.3%, respectively in cisplatin combined chemotherapy, docetaxel chemotherapy and the best support care. MST was significantly longer (P <0.05) and one year survival rate was significantly higher (P <0.05) in the patients with chemotherapy than that with best support care. There was no significant difference of MST and one year survival between cisplatin combined chemotherapy and docetaxel chemotherapy (P >0.05). Grade 3-4 toxicity was more serious in cisplatin combined group than that in docetaxel group (P <0.05).

Conclusions: Chemotherapy can prolong the survival time in elderly NSCLC patients. Even though the ORR is higher in cisplatin combined chemotherapy than that in docetaxel chemotherapy, there was no significant difference of MST and one year survival between cisplatin combined chemotherapy and docetaxel chemotherapy (P >0.05), which may due to the more serious toxicity. Docetaxel chemotherapy should be one of the standard regiment for the elderly NSCLC patients.