Outcomes of aggressive concurrent radiochemotherapy in highly selected septuagenarians with stage IIIB non-small cell lung carcinoma: Retrospective analysis of 89 patients

We retrospectively evaluated the toxicity and efficacy of concurrent radiochemotherapy (C-RCT) in medically fit septuagenarians with stage IIIB non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Eighty-nine medically fit, stage IIIB NSCLC septuagenarians were included. Thoracic radiotherapy to a total dose of 66 Gy in 2 Gy fractions was delivered concurrently with 1–2 cycles of cisplatin-based doublet chemotherapy. Treatment was relatively well-tolerated with no grade 4/5 acute toxicity. Acute grade 3 hematologic and non-hematologic toxicity rates were 55.1 and 39.3%, respectively. Late toxicity was reported in 3 (3.4%) patients: esophagitis (N = 2) and peripheral neuropathy (N = 1). At median 21.7 months (4.4–42.1), 26 patients (29.2%) were alive. Median overall, local-regional progression-free and progression-free survivals were 17.7, 10.5 and 7.8 months, respectively. On univariate analyses, histology (p < 0.03), nodal status (p = 0.038), number of concomitant chemotherapy (p < 0.001), and weight change during C-RCT (p < 0.001) demonstrated significant association with overall survival; while only number of chemotherapy and weight change (p < 0.001 for each) could retain their significance on multivariate analyses. Current results suggested that C-RCT in highly selected medically fit septuagenarians with LA-NSCLC may improve survival outcomes up to that achieved in younger patients, with a relatively acceptable toxicity profile.