engleski

Symptoms prevalence during chemotherapy in elderly patients (pts) with colorectal cancer (CRC)

Introduction : Incidence of CRC is increasing, especially in elderly. Elderly pts are suffering from commorbid diseases (cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes, etc.), they are using more medications and can be frail. Aim : To establish does chemotherapy cause different symptoms in elderly pts versus younger pts with CRC. Patient and methods : 388 pts with CRC were cured in our hospital from 1997-2003. We took age 70 as borderline. There was 162 elderly pts and 226 younger. Pts were treated with standard chemotherapeutic protocols (Mayo Clinic, Roswell Park, Folfiri, Capecitabine). In the group of elderly we adjusted medication doses according to commorbid diseases and frailty. Intensitiy of symptoms was reviewed according to WHO grading before and after first and second chemotherapeutic protocol. Results : In elderly group (75, 37 years), 27, 2% pts developed side effects (2, 3 pro pts). The most common were fatigue (37, 3%), emesis (19, 6%) and neutropenia (17, 7%). In younger pts (55, 75 years) side effects had 25, 7% pts (3, 1 pro pts) and fatigue was also the most common symptom (31, 7%). Conclusions : There was no difference between type and frequency of chemotherapy side effects according to age. The average number of side effects is higher in young pts (3, 1 versus 2, 3) ; but elderly had more serious neutropenia than younger. There was no need to stop chemotherapy in elderly because of the side effects. Taking in consideration commorbid diseases and pts frailty application of chemotherapy in elderly is saame safe and useful as in the younger pts.

symptoms prevalence; chemotherapy; elderly patients; colorectal cancer

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