The outcome of > or = 70-year-old non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients.

Abstract

The outcome of treatment of 98 over 70-year-old patients with nonHodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is presented. Analysis of treatment outcome of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients age 70 years and more was carried through with special emphasis on fatal complications occurring during treatment. Study patients mainly represented intermediate or high degree of malignancy. Complete response rate (CR) was 54% after combination chemotherapy, 22% after single agent chemotherapy, and 56% after radiotherapy (used for local disease). The overall 5-year survival was 38% for all patients and 57% for CR patients. Stage had a significant effect on both the complete response rate and survival. Survival was also significantly influenced by the malignancy grade. Fifteen patients (15%) died during treatment, many of them had another predisposing disease and markers of poor prognosis. The evaluation of individual prognostic features of each old patient should be completed prior to treatment planning.