“Old people suffer the ravages of the years”: changes of treatments in elderly patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer

The increase in life expectancy and the spreading of lung cancer screening led to a further rise of newly detected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Age, per se, should not be considered a contraindication for treatments in fit patients. Early stage NSCLC is more and more treated with minimally invasive surgery. Stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) has been developed as an innovative therapy for stage I NSCLC and is now considered a standard treatment option for medically inoperable patients or for patient who refuse operation. Preoperative careful functional evaluations either respiratory or cardiovascular, as well as preoperative staging, are mandatory to pose indication for surgery in elderly. On the other hand, all elderly patients with lung cancer should have some form of assessment of physiologic age. As minimally invasive thoracic surgery has reduced the postoperative morbidity and has led to a decrease in the length of hospital stay, lobectomy remains the treatment of choice for early stage NSCLC in elderly patients. Discussion by experienced multidisciplinary team is the best approach to evaluate the advantages/disadvantages of each treatment modality in elderly patients with early-stage NSCLC.