title: New surgical options for elderly lung cancer patients.
abstract: To understand the size of the aging population in the United States, the imminent need to include the elderly in clinical studies on lung cancer, and the safe potential of video-assisted thoracic surgery, and to change awareness of the elderly's need for and ability to undergo treatment for lung cancer, clinical studies of video-assisted thoracic surgery in patients > or = 70 years of age are presented. The elderly are a fast-growing part of the American population who are at high risk for lung cancer and should be included in clinical studies. Age alone should not be a contradiction to thoracic surgical interventions when video thoracoscopy is performed as treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mtjaklitsc@bics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Jaklitsch
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bueno
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Mentzer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lukanich
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Sugarbaker
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012307:Risk Factors; D012449:Safety; D015996:Survival Rate; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted