Immunotherapy in Geriatric Patients With Advanced Cancer
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 is more common in elderly patients, this group is generally not 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 years and older 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 were the overall survey immunotherapy (OSim).
Results: The median age to start 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, 2 patients (7.4%) had complete response (CR), 13 patients (48.1%) partial response (PR), 5 patients (18.5%) stable response and 7 patients (25.9%) progression. The most common side effect was fatigue, occurring in 44.4% (n=12) of patients. Moreover, 66.7% (n=18) experienced an immunotherapyrelated adverse event (irAE), among which rash (21%), thyroid dysfunction (13%), and pneumonitis (12%) were the most common. None of the patients died 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.
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