Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer in Elderly Patients: Patient Features and Therapeutic Management

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate among all cancers in most developed countries. The number of elderly patients with lung cancer has been increasing, reflecting the global increase in aging population. Therefore, standard chemotherapeutic regimens for elderly patients with lung cancer need to be established. However, the effectiveness of chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer remains controversial because they are often excluded from clinical trials. Some clinical trials have shown that the therapeutic benefit of a third-generation anticancer drug alone was superior to best supportive care. In contrast, platinum-doublet was superior only in terms of overall survival and progression-free survival, and other trials reported an increased rate of treatment-related death in the elderly patients. In recent years, some novel treatment modalities for lung cancer have been developed and shown to significantly improve the therapeutic outcomes, including targeted therapy for lung cancer harboring driver mutation, combination therapy of angiogenesis inhibitor and cytotoxic agents, and immune checkpoint inhibitor. Although several clinical trials with these agents have shown favorable outcome regardless of age, their safety in the elderly patients has not been established. Herein, we discuss the current clinical status and future prospects in elderly patients with lung cancer.