[Benign and malignant hemopathies in elderly patients]

108 patient over 75 years of age, treated in an internal diseases ward during a five-year period, were studied. 62 of them were with benign blood diseases, the women prevailing. The malignant hemopathies were found more frequently in men than in women, the ratio being 2.83:1. 35 of the patients (76%) were with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 10.8% of the patients were with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Only single patients suffered from chronic myeloid leukemia, myelofibrosis and blastic leukemia. The survival of the patients with benign hemopathies was shortened considerably because of the polymorbidity in elderly people. The survival of the elderly patients with malignant hemopathies did not differ from that of the patients from the other age groups.