Lung Cancer in the Elderly

Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer in the Elderly

“…Small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 20% of pulmonary neoplasms overall and, unlike squamous cell lung cancer, which tends to increase in incidence with increasing age, appears to be equally distributed over all age groups 3, 12 . In our review, the male to female ratio of 3:1 was comparable to that of SCLC overall.…”

“…Carcinoma of the lung is now the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in North America, 1 and despite advances in treatment, lung cancer mortality continues to increase for patients of both sexes. As with other malignancies, the age‐specific incidence rates for most forms of lung cancer increase dramatically with age and reach a peak at age 70 for men and at approximately age 60 for women 2, 3 . In fact, almost half of all lung cancers occur in individuals older than 65 years of age 3 .…”

“…As with other malignancies, the age‐specific incidence rates for most forms of lung cancer increase dramatically with age and reach a peak at age 70 for men and at approximately age 60 for women 2, 3 . In fact, almost half of all lung cancers occur in individuals older than 65 years of age 3 . Since the percentage of the North American population over the age of 65 also is increasing rapidly, 4 oncologists will be faced with a rapidly increasing number of elderly patients with lung cancer for whom treatment decisions will have to be made.…”