Side effects of chemotherapy

• Fewer blood cells, also called low blood counts. You may have fewer white blood cells, red blood cells, or a type of blood cell called platelets.
• Stomach and digestive problems. These can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration.
• Nervous system damage.

Elderly patients have a decreased tolerance to chemotherapy in general, with increased incidence of various toxicities. Some side effects are rather drug specific, such as cardiac failure with anthracyclines, or neuropathy with taxanes/cisplatin.

Is Chemotherapy safe for the elderly?

Organ toxicities may be more problematic in the elderly , but in most tumours, the efficacy of chemotherapy is not age dependent. Chemotherapy , where indicated for advanced cancer, can therefore be safely and effectively used in selected elderly patients. Managing advanced cancer in the elderly is an increasing problem.

Should an 80 year old have chemo?

First, there is no reason to deny older people adequate cancer therapy — surgery, chemotherapy , radiation — based on age alone. Individualization is critical; one size does not fit all! While one 80 – year – old may tolerate a standard course of chemotherapy perfectly well, the next may not.

Should a 90 year old have chemotherapy?

In most cases, it does not. A healthy older person often has the same chances of responding to treatment or being cured than a younger one. Even for patients with more health issues chemotherapy may help decrease cancer symptoms and growth, and help people live better and longer.

Does cancer spread slower in the elderly?

The old idea that cancer is less aggressive in the elderly is not entirely without merit: breast and prostate cancers tend to grow more slowly in older patients. But other types—colon and bladder cancer and certain leukemias, for example—are usually more aggressive and harder to treat.

Can chemotherapy shorten your life?

Cancer survivors tend to have shorter telomeres than normal persons at the same age. This means that they are older than their actual years. It could be the intensive and toxic chemotherapy and radiation therapy that has led to this finding say researchers.

Is chemotherapy really worth it?

Suffering through cancer chemotherapy is worth it — when it helps patients live longer. But many patients end up with no real benefit from enduring chemo after surgical removal of a tumor. Going in, it’s been hard to predict how much chemo will help prevent tumor recurrence or improve survival chances.

What is the life expectancy of lymphoma patients?

The average age of those who are diagnosed with indolent lymphoma is about 60 . It affects both men and women. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is approximately 12 to 14 years . Indolent lymphomas are about 40 percent of all NHLs combined in the United States.

Does Chemo age your body?

Chemotherapy , radiation therapy and other cancer treatments cause aging at a genetic and cellular level, prompting DNA to start unraveling and cells to die off sooner than normal. Bone marrow transplant recipients are eight times more likely to become frail than their healthy siblings.

What percentage of oncologists would have chemotherapy?

Results are shown in Table 1. Among oncologists/hematologists, 64.5% said that they would take chemotherapy, as did 67% of nurses.

Is 85 considered old?

People who are over 85 are considered the “oldest” of the old . Adults who are 85 or older may walk a bit slower, use a cane, or have trouble hearing, but this does not mean that all older people will need a cane or a hearing aid. And even though some older people have physical limitations, they can and do enjoy life.

Does sarcoma respond to chemo?

Different types of sarcoma respond better to chemo than others and also respond to different types of chemo . Chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma generally uses a combination of several anti-cancer drugs.

Is chemotherapy painful?

Some chemotherapy drugs can cause painful side effects, such as aching in the muscles and joints, headaches and stomach pains. Pain may be felt as burning, numbness, tingling or shooting pains in the hands and feet (called peripheral nerve damage). This type of pain can last long after treatment ends.

How long can an elderly person live with pancreatic cancer?

Results: Overall median survival was 6.2 months. Patients who underwent surgical therapy had the best median survival rate of 26.5 months, followed by patients receiving chemotherapy (6.6 months), chemoradiotherapy (5.7 months) and best supportive care (3.4 months).

What is the most common cancer in the elderly?

The most common cancers in the elderly are: Breast Cancer , Prostate Cancer , Lung Cancer , and Bowel Cancer .

Why do elderly get cancer more?

The accumulation of age-associated changes in a biochemical process that helps control genes may be responsible for some of the increased risk of cancer seen in older people , according to a National Institutes of Health study.