[Diagnosis and treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients]. / Diagnostiek en behandeling van het non-Hodgkin-lymfoom bij de oudere patiënt.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is relatively frequent among elderly patients: more than half of the diagnoses in the Netherlands concern patients aged 65 years or above. The treatment depends on histological type, clinical stage and prognostic group. Increasingly, a treatment decision is made after determination of the prognostic group on the basis of the expected response and survival. In elderly patients intensive treatment frequently has more toxic effects. The expected gain in survival has to be weighed against more toxicity and loss of quality of life during and after the therapy. This is notably important for patients with low grade NHL, which requires only intermittent treatment. It is possible to cure some elderly patients with NHL of intermediate or high grade malignancy provided they are adequately treated with combination chemotherapy. Patients with low grade NHL or poor clinical condition may benefit temporarily from palliative treatment, in the planning of which quality of life has to be taken into account.