April 12, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1428

BOSTON: Being over 70 should not stop patients from getting aggressive treatment of the most malignant form of brain cancer with radiation therapy, French researchers reported on Wednesday.

Because the tumour, glioblastoma, typically kills half its victims within a year, doctors have been unsure about whether it is worthwhile to even treat older patients.

A team led by Florence Keime-Guibert at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris found that 42 patients who simply received supportive care survived for an average of 17 weeks, which is typical for younger patients as well.

But 39 volunteers who also received radiation therapy typically got an extra 12 weeks of life. This is a significant difference, although not as much as younger patients get with radiation treatment.

Both groups of elderly patients reported a similar quality of life, an important factor in determining whether to undertake aggressive care. The study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, is unusual because it focused on older patients.

“Only 22 to 36 per cent of patients 65 years of age or older participate in trials for cancer therapy, even though they represent nearly 60 per cent of the population with cancer,”Lillian Siu of the University of Toronto wrote in a commentary.—Reuters