Effects of chemotherapy on survival of elderly patients with small-cell lung cancer: analysis of the SEER-medicare database.

J Thorac Oncol

*Holy Family Hospital, Cancer Management Center, Methuen, Massachusetts; †Tufts Medical Center Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Boston, Massachusetts; and ‡Tufts Medical Center Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston, Massachusetts.

Published: October 2013

Introduction: This retrospective cohort study was designed to analyze factors associated with administration of chemotherapy and to examine the impact of chemotherapy on survival among elderly patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) in the community.

Methods: Elderly patients aged 65 years and older with SCLC diagnosed between 1992 and 2001 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database. Logistic regression was used to evaluate which covariates influenced receipt of chemotherapy. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the influence of clinical and demographic variables on survival. The independent effect of chemotherapy on survival was determined using propensity scores and quantile regression.

Results: In the final cohort of 10,428 patients, 67.1% received chemotherapy, 39.1% received radiation, 3.4% received surgery, and 21.8% received no treatment. The most common chemotherapy regimens included etoposide combined with either cisplatin or carboplatin. Patients aged 85 years and older were significantly less likely to receive chemotherapy compared with patients aged 65 to 69 years (odds ratio 0.17; 95% confidence interval 0.14-0.21). Median survival for all patients was 7 months. Factors associated with improved survival were being female, black race, having limited-stage disease, receiving any treatment, and having a lower comorbidity score. Quantile regression demonstrated that chemotherapy provided a 6.5-month improvement in median survival (95% confidence interval 6.3-6.6; p<0.001).

Conclusions: Statistically significant differences in the receipt of chemotherapy exist among elderly patients with SCLC. Chemotherapy is associated with a greater than 6-month improvement in median survival among elderly patients with SCLC, even in patients over the age of 80 years.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901951PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JTO.0b013e3182a007baDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

chemotherapy survival
12
elderly patients
12
patients aged
12
aged years
12
survival elderly
8
patients small-cell
8
small-cell lung
8
lung cancer
8
factors associated
8
chemotherapy
8

Similar Publications

Introduction: Solitary plasmacytomas are tumors characterized by a local increase of malignant plasma cells in soft tissue or bone and may occur anywhere without evidence of systemic disease. The aim was to focus on the main surgical techniques and outcomes for this rare chest wall tumor.

Methods: Patients with solitary plasmacytoma involving a rib, who were operated for diagnostic or treatment purposes between 2018 and 2023 were retrospectively reviewed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Endocrine treatments, such as Tamoxifen (TAM) and/or Aromatase inhibitors (AI), are the adjuvant therapy of choice for hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. These agents are associated with menopausal symptoms, adversely affecting drug compliance. Topical estrogen (TE) has been proposed for symptom management, given its' local application and presumed reduced bioavailability, however its oncological safety remains uncertain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rare dual MYH9-ROS1 fusion variants in a patient with lung adenocarcinoma: A case report.

Medicine (Baltimore)

January 2025

Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan City People's Hospital, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China.

Rationale: ROS proto-oncogene 1 (ROS1) fusion is a rare but important driver mutation in non-small cell lung cancer, which usually shows significant sensitivity to small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors. With the widespread application of next-generation sequencing (NGS), more fusions and co-mutations of ROS1 have been discovered. Non-muscle myosin heavy chain 9 (MYH9) is a rare fusion partner of ROS1 gene as reported.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following sorafenib failure, regorafenib has been used as an initial second-line drug. It is unclear the real efficacy and safety of sorafenib-regorafenib sequential therapy compared to placebo or other treatment (cabozantinib or nivolumab or placebo) in advanced HCC.

Methods: Four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Ovid) were systematically searched for eligible articles from their inception to July, 2024.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

T-helper 17 (Th17) cells significantly influence the onset and advancement of malignancies. This study endeavor focused on delineating molecular classifications and developing a prognostic signature grounded in Th17 cell differentiation-related genes (TCDRGs) using machine learning algorithms in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). A consensus clustering approach was applied to The Cancer Genome Atlas-HNSCC cohort based on TCDRGs, followed by an examination of differential gene expression using the limma package.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!