Lung Cancer Patients less likely to be treated

(Friday, 4 may HealthDay News) - A study of elderly people with non-small cell lung cancer found that older patients are less likely to receive treatment as younger patients, regardless of their overall health condition and prognosis.

Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer.

For this study, watched American researchers the data of more than 20,000 patients with lung cancer aged 65 and over in the Cancer Registry Center goes between 2003 and 2008 and found that, for all the stages of lung cancer, younger patients, patients were more likely to receive the treatment as patients in good health.

It is not better for patients, the researchers said. Previous research has shown that patients of lung cancer which are otherwise in good health can benefit from treatments, while those of other diseases are more vulnerable to the toxicity of cancer treatment.

"It is clear that, as human beings human and physicians, us set age to decide whether to continue the treatment for cancer, including lung cancer treatments.". "Instead, we should we in the overall health, of our patients" lead author Dr. Sunny Wang, a doctor at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and Assistant Clinical Professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, said in a press release from the University.

The study was published May 1 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Patients aged 65 to 74, who were seriously ill with other diseases - and therefore less likely to benefit from and more likely to be adversely affected by the cancer - received treatment on the same pace as patients in the same age with no other disease.

These patients were more likely to receive treatment and patients aged 75 to 84, which did not have other diseases and better prognosis.

"The message here is, based strictly on the age, the cancer treatment," Wang said. "Do not bury a 75-year-old otherwise healthy and decide automatically treat a patient really 65 without evaluating carefully the risks and benefits for the patient."

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on non-small cell lung cancer.

SOURCE: University of California, San Francisco, press release, may 1, 2012

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