This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Thieblemont, C. Articles by Coiffier, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Thieblemont, C. Articles by Coiffier, B. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Lymphoma in Older Patients

Catherine Thieblemont, Bertrand Coiffier

From the Hospices Civils de Lyon, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, Service d'hématologie clinique, Pierre Bénite, France; Université Lyon 1, Faculté Lyon-Sud, Oullins, France; and the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Service d'Hémato-oncologie, Paris, France

Address reprint requests to Bertrand Coiffier, PhD, Hematology Department, CH Lyon-Sud, 69495 Pierre Benite, France; e-mail: bertrand.coiffier{at}chu-lyon.fr

One half of patients newly diagnosed with lymphoma are older than 60 years and a significant proportion of them older than 80 years. Older patients treated for lymphoma may not tolerate the high-dose therapies used in younger patients, usually because of the presence of concomitant diseases. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma represents more than 60% of all lymphomas seen in older patients. Clinical presentation and prognostic parameters are identical to those described in young patients. However, response rate is usually lower in elderly patients compared with young patients, even if the patients are treated with the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) regimen. Therefore, event-free and overall survival rates are shorter in elderly patients, even if disease-free survival rates are not really shorter than in young patients. Rituximab added to the CHOP regimen has recently been shown to dramatically improve the survival of these older patients without increasing the toxicity of the treatment. Patients older than 80 years may also be treated with rituximab plus CHOP, except for those having severe organ failure secondary to other diseases. Very few of these older patients may benefit from a salvage treatment after relapse.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. Morschhauser, M. Dreyling, A. Rohatiner, F. Hagemeister, and A. Bischof Delaloye Rationale for Consolidation to Improve Progression-Free Survival in Patients with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: A Review of the Evidence Oncologist, October 1, 2009; 14(suppl_2): 17 - 29. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Grange, E. Maubec, M. Bagot, M. Beylot-Barry, P. Joly, S. Dalle, E. Delaporte, O. Dereure, H. Bachelez, B. Vergier, et al. Treatment of Cutaneous B-Cell Lymphoma, Leg Type, With Age-Adapted Combinations of Chemotherapies and Rituximab Arch Dermatol, March 1, 2009; 145(3): 329 - 330. [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Morschhauser, J. Radford, A. Van Hoof, U. Vitolo, P. Soubeyran, H. Tilly, P. C. Huijgens, A. Kolstad, F. d'Amore, M. G. Diaz, et al. Phase III Trial of Consolidation Therapy With Yttrium-90-Ibritumomab Tiuxetan Compared With No Additional Therapy After First Remission in Advanced Follicular Lymphoma J. Clin. Oncol., November 10, 2008; 26(32): 5156 - 5164. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. Carver, S. J. Schuster, and J. H. Glick Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity in the Elderly: Old Drugs and New Opportunities J. Clin. Oncol., July 1, 2008; 26(19): 3122 - 3124. [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Hosing, R. M. Saliba, G.-J. Okoroji, U. Popat, D. Couriel, T. Ali, L. De Padua Silva, P. Kebriaei, A. Alousi, M. De Lima, et al. High-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients >65 years of age Ann. Onc., June 1, 2008; 19(6): 1166 - 1171. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. M. Lichtman, L. Balducci, and M. Aapro Geriatric Oncology: A Field Coming of Age J. Clin. Oncol., May 10, 2007; 25(14): 1821 - 1823. [Full Text] [PDF]