P2-19-4 - Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Dlbcl Patients Aged 70 Years and Older: a Single Center Experience

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Background: In elderly DLBCL patients, determining appropriate dosage and schedule of chemotherapy to balance between treatment-related toxicity and efficacy is more difficult than in young patients. Moreover reliable clinical factors to discriminate patients who are proper for curative treatment, are uncertain. Therefore, we investigated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of elderly patients with DLBCL along with causes of treatment related death.Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcome of DLBCL patients (n = 44), who aged more than 70 years old and newly diagnosed at YEOUIDO St Mary's Hospital from Jan, 2005 to June, 2013. Variable clinical data (PS, IPI score, albumin level, co-morbidity, stage, LDH, extranodal involvement) and treatment related characteristics along with the response rate and overall survival (OS), causes of treatment-related deaths or treatment interruption were investigated by chart review.Results: Median overall survival was 18.3 month and 19 (46.3%) patients completed curative intent treatment. Mean aRDI of adriamycin in chemotherapy completed patients was 0.617. Among these, 16 patients achieved CR. For univariate analysis, poor PS, higher IPI score, experience of infectious complication and low albumin level (< 3g/dL) were related to shorter OS. But stage, co-morbidity index, aRDI of adriamycin and cycle length did not affect OS. The most common cause of treatment-related death or treatment interruption was infectious complication, especially pneumonia and occurred mostly after first cycle of chemotherapy. Patients who had experienced infectious complication tended to have lower albumin level than patients without infectious complication.Conclusions: In a treatment of elderly lymphoma patients, dose intensity of anthracycline is not as important as in young patients. PS and albumin level should be considered as important criteria to define fit elderly patients for chemotherapy.