A new study challenges the long-held belief that age alone should disqualify older adults from lung cancer surgery. Researchers found that carefully selected octogenarians with stage IA non-small cell lung cancer who underwent curative-intent surgery had durable survival and quality-of-life outcomes comparable to younger patients.
The analysis included 884 patients, 114 of whom were 80 or older. Octogenarians had a 5-year overall survival rate of 84.2%, close to the 87.3% rate in patients under 80. Lung cancer-specific survival was nearly identical at 94.4% and 94.5%, respectively.
While complication rates were higher among older patients (40% vs 22%), no deaths occurred within 30 days of surgery. Quality of life scores declined at 2 months but recovered to baseline by 12 months in both groups.
The findings support individualized assessment based on functional status and tumor features, not chronological age.