Background: The risks of chemoradiotherapy in elderly patients with rectal cancer have not yet been well-characterised.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with rectal cancer over 70 years old who were treated with chemoradiotherapy in two French university hospitals.
Results: A total of 125 patients were evaluated. Mean age was 75.1 ± 4.1 years and ranged from 70 to 90 years. Adverse effects ≥ grade 2 were observed in 32% of the patients and adverse effects ≥ grade 3 in 15%. Dose reduction for toxicity was performed in 18% of the patients and chemoradiotherapy discontinuation was necessary in 9%. Postoperative morbidity was 16% with two treatment-related deaths. Two-year survival rate was 84%. No variables had any influence on treatment-related adverse events.
Conclusions: In selected elderly patients, chemoradiotherapy is well-tolerated, without any significant increase in adverse events, and the results are similar to those recorded in younger patients.
Copyright © 2011 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.