Socio-economic factors affected tumour stage at diagnosis and survival. Living in a deprived area was linked to advanced-stage BC at diagnosis only in women aged 50-74 years. This is probably due to the socio-economic disparities in participation in organized BC screening programmes. Furthermore, living in deprived area was associated with a poor survival rate.

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PurposeFew studies are currently available among elderly patients, justifying the need for better understanding of daily medical practices in terms of use of growth factors to prevent chemotherapy (CT)-induced neutropenia. The primary objective of this study was to describe the use of filgrastim in the elderly.MethodsCancer patients aged 65 years and above, undergoing CT and initiating a prophylactic treatment with filgrastim, were enrolled. Patients were followed according to routine medical practice from filgrastim initiation until the end of the CT or after a maximum of 6 cycles.ResultsOne thousand one hundred nineteen evaluable patients were documented in the study (mean age 73.9 ± 6.2 years, 52.1% men). The majority were suffering from solid tumor (73%) with ECOG 0–1 for 80% of them. Approximately two-third had a global risk for FN ≥ 20%, and one third < 20%. Through all CT cycles, no differences were observed between age classes ([65–74], [75–85], or > 85) in dose, duration, and time to first injection from CT start. Most patients (84%) received primary prophylaxis (PP) and 70% were administered during the first CT cycle. The median time from CT start until filgrastim was 4 days. The median duration of filgrastim treatment was 5 days. Dose reductions and CT delays were less frequent in patients receiving PP (4.8% and 7.1% respectively) than secondary prophylaxis (9.2% and 13.3% respectively).ConclusionsFilgrastim use was consistent with French Market Authorization terms. No difference was shown compared with younger patients. Safety data were consistent with the known safety profile.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00520-019-04725-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In 1981, a protocol was developed at the Institut Gustave-Roussy, combining interstitial hyperthermia and brachytherapy. Twenty-nine implantations were performed in 23 patients. All the lesions except three were located in previously irradiated areas. The protocol consisted of interstitial hyperthermia, 44 degrees C for 45 min, immediately followed by iridium-192 brachytherapy, delivering a dose of 30 Gy in the first 17 implantations, and a dose of 40 Gy in the next 12 (the dose was increased because of two local relapses in the first 17 cases). Special 'metal-plastic' tubes have been designed to heat the tumour specifically and to spare the surrounding healthy tissues. Among the 25 implantations for which a complete thermal mapping was available, a minimum temperature of 44 degrees C was reached in 16 cases, 43 degrees C in 5 cases and 42 degrees C in 4. The temperature inhomogeneity within the treated volume was less than 1 degrees C in 16 cases, and up to 4 degrees C in only one instance. Short-term clinical results (at two months) are available for 23 implantations: a 100 per cent response rate and a 83 per cent complete regression rate was observed. Follow-up is still short for most patients and long-term local control cannot be evaluated. Treatment has been generally well tolerated despite prior irradiation. Thus, technically satisfactory hyperthermia could be obtained in most cases, short-term clinical results are encouraging, and the technique merits further study.