PMID: 9550794Apr 29, 1998Paper

Diagnosis and treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients

Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde
J K Doorduijn, P Sonneveld

Abstract

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is relatively frequent among elderly patients: more than half of the diagnoses in the Netherlands concern patients aged 65 years or above. The treatment depends on histological type, clinical stage and prognostic group. Increasingly, a treatment decision is made after determination of the prognostic group on the basis of the expected response and survival. In elderly patients intensive treatment frequently has more toxic effects. The expected gain in survival has to be weighed against more toxicity and loss of quality of life during and after the therapy. This is notably important for patients with low grade NHL, which requires only intermittent treatment. It is possible to cure some elderly patients with NHL of intermediate or high grade malignancy provided they are adequately treated with combination chemotherapy. Patients with low grade NHL or poor clinical condition may benefit temporarily from palliative treatment, in the planning of which quality of life has to be taken into account.

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Blood And Marrow Transplantation

The use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or blood and marrow transplantation (bmt) is on the increase worldwide. BMT is used to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Here is the latest research on bone and marrow transplantation.

B-Cell Lymphoma

B-cell lymphomas include lymphomas that affect B cells. This subtype of cancer accounts for over 80% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas in the US. Here is the latest research.