An octogenarian case of postoperative recurrent lung cancer responding to treatments with radiation plus gefitinib

: An 82-year-old woman, a never smoker, had a radical operation for CT screening revealed lung cancer in an other hospital in 1997. She was admitted to our hospital complaining of dry cough and dyspnea on effort in March 2004. She was diagnosed to have a local recurrence of lung cancer 6 years after the operation. After she underwent radiotherapy of the mediastinum (total 60 Gy) and daily administration of gefitinib for two weeks, the administration of gefitinib was continued every other day in the outpatient clinic. During follow-up, CYFRA gradually increased to 3.8 ng/mL, but then decreased to the normal range. The tumor response rate of metastasized lymph nodes of bronchial bifurcation reached 36%, and it was confirmed to be a partial response. Without harmful phenomena except skin eruptions, her quality of life was good with a performance status (PS) 0 at 85 years 4 months of age, 9 years 2 months after the resection, with 2 years 5 months of gefitinib administration. It will be useful as a treatment option for octogenarians having postoperative recurrent lung cancers with every other day administration of gefitinib.