title: Muscle-invasive bladder cancer in elderly-unfit patients with concomitant illness: can a curative radiation therapy be delivered?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is no standard treatment for elderly-unfit patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Pelvic irradiation alone is an usual approach in this instance, and some reports have demonstrated that curative radiotherapy is feasible in elderly patients. To our knowledge, no data exist about the feasibility of a curative treatment in elderly patients with concomitant illness and a Charlson Comorbidity Index (an index of comorbidity that includes age) greater than 2. The main purpose of the present study was to establish the feasibility of irradiation in a cohort of elderly patients in poor general condition.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of 45 elderly-unfit patients (median age, 75 years; range, 70-85), with a comorbid Charlson score >2, treated with curative dose, planned continuous-course, external beam radiotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer were reviewed. The patients were treated to a median total dose of 60 Gy (range, 56-64), with an average fractional dose of 190 +/- 10 cGy using megavoltage (6-15 MV). All patients were treated with radiation fields encompassing the bladder and grossly involved lymph nodes with a radiographic margin of at least 1.5 cm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No treatment-related mortality and clinically insignificant acute morbidity was recorded. No patient was hospitalized during or after the irradiation because of gastrointestinal or urogenital side effects. In one patient a week rest from therapy was necessary due a febrile status. Median survival was 21.5 months; overall 3- and 5-year survival was 36% and 19.5%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elderly-unfit patients with comorbidities and >70 years of age can be submitted to radical pelvic irradiation. The results observed in this retrospective analysis have encouraged us to use non-palliative radiotherapy doses in these patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santacaterina
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Settineri
authors.forename: Costantino
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Renzis
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Frosina
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brancati
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delia
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palazzolo
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sansotta
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pergolizzi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*