Chemotherapy in the elderly: Are their needs being met? Journal Article
| Author: | Lichtman, S. M. |
| Article Title: | Chemotherapy in the elderly: Are their needs being met? |
| Abstract: | The aging of society and the resultant increased numbers of older cancer patients has made the study of this expanding population a priority. Traditionally, older cancer patients have been excluded from clinical trials. The reasons are multiple but include fear of toxicity, low institutional priority, restrictive inclusion criteria, social support and funding issues. The result has been that there is very little prospective data to make evidence-based decisions. This makes the elderly an underserved population with many unmet needs. This is particularly true of patients over 80 years of age for whom virtually no data exists. To date, there have been few studies that have shown a significant difference in the pharmacokinetics between the 'typical' patients and the elderly. Pharmacokinetic differences, when present, have not been clinically relevant. This lack of data mandates trials specific for the elderly. Suggestions for clinical trial design are presented. © 2009 Future Medicine Ltd. |
| Keywords: | cancer chemotherapy; cancer survival; treatment response; overall survival; clinical trial; review; drug efficacy; drug safety; paclitaxel; cancer adjuvant therapy; cancer patient; disease free survival; chemotherapy; cancer staging; drug megadose; antineoplastic agent; neoplasm; colorectal cancer; cytoreductive surgery; quality of life; ovary cancer; breast cancer; cancer mortality; prostate cancer; drug distribution; colon cancer; comorbidity; aging; daily life activity; drug metabolism; drug absorption; elderly care; elderly; functional status; clinical trials; pharmacokinetics; ageism; pharmacology; polypharmacy; cytochrome p450; creatinine clearance |
| Journal Title: | Therapy |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Issue: | 6 |
| ISSN: | 1475-0708 |
| Publisher: | Future Medicine |
| Date Published: | 2009-11-01 |
| Start Page: | 893 |
| End Page: | 902 |
| Language: | English |
| DOI: | 10.2217/thy.09.72 |
| PROVIDER: | scopus |
| DOI/URL: | |
| Notes: | --- - "Export Date: 30 November 2010" - "Source: Scopus" |
