Dr. Wakelee on Adjuvant Therapy in Elderly Patients

Heather Wakelee, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford Clinical Cancer Center, explains that trials have been completed looking at adjuvant cisplatin given in 4 cycles in multiple age groups that showed an improvement in survival of 5-10%.

Some trials focused on the subset of elderly patients defined as being over 65 years old. These trials found that elderly patients did not tolerate chemotherapy as well but still experience similar survival rates to the broad studies looking at multiple age groups.

When examining patients in their 80's it became clear how important accurate patient selection becomes. It was difficult, but possible, to find patients in their 80's that are fit to receive chemotherapy.