Orginal Article Treatment modalities of non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients over 65 years of age: A two-center experience Guven Cetin 1 , Elif Ece Dogan 2 , Nilay Sengul Samanci 3 , Mesut Ayer 4 , Tuba Ozkan 5 , Iskender Ekinci 6 , Rabia Bag 7 , Seda Turgut 8 and Omer Uysal 9 Abstract Objective: This study was conducted with the aim of making the contribution to a decision for treatment and deter- mination of the modalities in patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkın lymphoma which increasingly become widespread in the geriatric population. Materials and methods: Ninety-one patients aged over 65 years diagnosed with lymphoma and treated in Bezmialem Vakıf University Medical Faculty Hospital and Haseki Training and Research Hospital between 2008 and 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Finally, 63 patients for whom data could be reached were included in the study. Results: Examining the results, histological diagnoses of our patients were as follows: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (50.8%), follicular lymphoma (23.8%), marginal zone lymphoma (12.7%), mantle cell lymphoma (4.8%), T-cell lymphoma (4.8%), lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (1.6%) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (1.6%). Stages at the time of diagnosis were early stage by 33.3% and late stage by 66.7%. Of the patients, 36.5% had a low-intermediate and 63.5% a high- intermediate International Prognostic Index score. According to the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scoring, 34.9% of the patients have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score of 2–4. Activities of daily living score of 33.3% patients was under 5. Looking at the responses to treatment, the complete response was found in 50.8%, partial response in 4.8%, stable disease in 1.6% and progressive disease in 9.5% of the patients. The mean follow-up duration of patients was found as 25.2 months and disease-free survival after remission as 20.2 months. Conclusion: We found that we have achieved a complete remission in more than half of our patients (50.8%). Based on this, treatment should aim remission in elderly patients. Keywords Geriatric population, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, retrospective, two-center experience Date received: 6 September 2018; revised: 11 February 2019; accepted: 12 February 2019 Introduction Life expectancy is gradually increasing with the increase in the number of persons aged over 80 by 250% between 1960 and 2000. 1 As a result, among the increasing cases of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), 1 Department of Hematology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Bayrampas¸a Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Medical Oncology, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey 4 Department of Hematology, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 5 Department of Internal Medicine, Yahyalı Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey 6 Department of Internal Medicine, Kanuni Training and Research Hospital Istanbul, Turkey 7 Department of Geriatrics, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey 8 Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey 9 Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey Corresponding author: Nilay Sengul Samanci, Department of Medical Oncology, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey. Email: nilaysengulsamanci@gmail.com J Oncol Pharm Practice 0(0) 1–6 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1078155219839460 journals.sagepub.com/home/opp