[Recommendations for the treatment of prostate cancer in the elderly man: A study by the oncology committee of the French association of urology]

Abstract

The increase in life expectancy combined with the increase in the global incidence of cancers will probably results in an increase in the number of cancers observed in the elderly. The increase in the incidence of prostate cancers in geriatric patients (45% of prostate cancers are diagnosed after 75 years old) is in sharp contrast with the lack of strong scientific data on the topic. By the meantime, oncogeriatrics has been developing for some years now under the guidance of the International Society of Oncogeriatrics. Such an approach aims at palliating the low quality of care of cancers in geriatric patients. The reasons for the low quality of care come from the characteristics of these patients and from the training of the care providers. The authors recall the principles of oncogeriatric evaluation and the classification of patients as it is actually proposed. They describe the main treatments and their results in the geriatric population and they describe the decision process concerning the choice of the treatment. They also suggest some guidelines on the diagnosis of prostate cancer, evaluation of the patients and the treatments of the disease in the elderly. Prostate cancer is almost the perfect model for oncogeriatrics. Urologists should remain the corner stone of its management, whatever the age of their patient.