[Safety of pemetrexed mono-therapy in elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer].

Safety of pemetrexed mono-therapy in elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer was examined between May 2009 and April 2010 at Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital . The numbers of non-elderly and elderly(over 70 years old)patients were 14 and 19, respectively. Rates of neutropenia over Grade 3 were 14. 3% in the non-elderly group, and 36. 8% in the elderly group(p=0. 297). However, febrile neutropenia was only seen in one case in each group(p=0. 606), and no treatment-related death was observed. Although the rates of rash appearance were 28. 6% and 36. 8%(p=0. 347)for the non-elderly and the elderly, respectively, most rashes were relieved by steroids. From these results, pemetrexed mono-therapy is considered one of the applicable regimens for elderly patients.