title: Efficacy and safety of amurubicin for the elderly patients with refractory relapsed small cell lung cancer as third-line chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While more elderly patients are being diagnosed with lung cancer every year, no anti-lung cancer therapy designed specifically for the elderly has been established yet. This is the first retrospective study to examine the efficacy and safety of amurubicin (AMR) for elderly patients with refractory relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC) as second or third-line chemotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six patients were eligible for analyzing the frequency of hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities and effectiveness of AMR for refractory relapsed SCLC in both elderly (≥ 70 years) and non-elderly (<70 years) groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among these patients as third-line chemotherapy, the response rate and the disease control rate of refractory relapsed cases were 44.4 and 55.6%, respectively. The median of progression-free survival time was 3.0 months and the median of overall survival time was 5.1 months. There were no significant differences in the frequency of the grade 3-5 hematologic or non-hematologic toxicity between the elderly (≥ 70 years) and non-elderly (<70 years) patients or second and third-line chemotherapies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AMR could be one of the effective tools in the treatment of elderly patients with refractory relapsed SCLC as third-line chemotherapy, and the recommended dose is 30 mg/m 2 for three consecutive days.
authors: Department of Pulmonology, Kameda Medical Center, Chiba, Japan. nobuhiro0204@hotmail.com
authors: Nobuhiro
authors: N
authors: Asai
authors: Yoshihiro
authors: Y
authors: Ohkuni
authors: Ryo
authors: R
authors: Matsunuma
authors: Kei
authors: K
authors: Nakashima
authors: Takuya
authors: T
authors: Iwasaki
authors: Norihiro
authors: N
authors: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018943:Anthracyclines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018943:Anthracyclines; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C055866:amrubicin