Chemotherapy may cause local reactions, bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal reactions, etc. Patients over the age of 70 often cannot tolerate these adverse reactions, and chemotherapy at this time will bring little benefit to the patient, so it is not recommended to do chemotherapy over the age of 70.
1. Local reactions: most chemotherapy drugs will cause irritation to the veins, and the veins at the injection site may become red, swollen, hot and painful, streaked with red lines, and the skin along the veins may become hyperpigmented.
2. Bone marrow suppression: Bone marrow suppression may occur during chemotherapy, i.e., it may cause symptoms such as lowering of white blood cells, thrombocytopenia, and anemia.
3. Gastrointestinal reactions: some patients may experience symptoms such as severe nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.
Patients over 70 years old are often in poor physical condition, often accompanied by other underlying diseases, the ability to tolerate the above adverse reactions is poorer, the reaction may be more intense than younger people, often need to reduce the dose or stop the drug, at this time the chemotherapy to bring little benefit to the patient, but may be because of the adverse effects of life-threatening, so chemotherapy is not recommended.
The need for chemotherapy for patients over 70 years of age should be based on the patient’s specific situation and the doctor’s advice.