By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter for US News and World Report

Finding runs counter to expert recommendations against use of the therapy by those over 70

MONDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) — Countering conventional wisdom, researchers in France say that elderly lung cancer patients can gain significant benefit from an aggressive, double-barreled chemotherapy that’s often used in younger patients.

The finding raises questions about standard public health recommendations, such as those issued the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2004, which advised physicians not to expose elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to the undesirable side effects of combination chemotherapy.