Immunotherapy in Geriatric Patients With Advanced Cancer

Özet

Objectives: Successful responses have been obtained in treating many solid and hematological cancers using PD-1 and PDL-1 inhibitors as immunotherapy treatments. Although cancer appears more frequently in elderly patients, this group is not usually included in clinical trials. Therefore, studies involving geriatric patients cannot reflect real-life data. The aim of our study is to share the real-life data of patients aged 65 and over who had different cancer diagnoses and received immunotherapy treatments. Methods: In our study, patients aged ≥65 years who received immunotherapy treatment at our center between 16.02.2016 and 31.12.2019 were evaluated retrospectively. The primary outcome was treatment tolerance and progression-free survival (PFS). The secondary outcomes was overall survey immunotherapy (OSim). Results: The median age of starting immunotherapy was 70 years (range 66–78). Comorbid diseases were present in 20 (74%) of the patients. The most common primary malignancy type was renal cell cancer (RCC) (n=9, 33.3%). The median PFS was 7.3 (range 1–49) months. After immunotherapy, complete response (CR) was seen in 2 (7.4%) patients, partial response (PR) in 13 (48.1%), stable response in 5 (18.5%), and progression in 7 (25.9%). The most common side effect was fatigue, occurring in 44.4% (n=12) of patients. Moreover, 66.7% (n=18) experienced an immunotherapy-related adverse event (irAE), among which rash (21%), thyroid dysfunction (13%), and pneumonitis (12%) were the most common. No patient was dead due to treatment-related side effects. Conclusion: Although the efficacy of immunotherapy treatments was affected by comorbid diseases among cancer patients, it was observed that the elderly patients have efficacy and tolerability in accordance with the literature.