Geriatric oncology

Abstract

The rapid increase in persons aged 65 and older will account for 20% of the total United States population by the year 2030. The incidence of malignancy likewise increases with advancing age. These factors are likely to result in an epidemic of geriatric cancer cases. Physicians should become knowledgeable on current issues in geriatric oncology which include: how to appropriately select geriatric patients with malignancies for surgical, medical or radiotherapeutic intervention; age as a bias for treatment selection; toxicities from cancer therapy in the elderly and how they can be modified; cancer screening and prevention measures in the elderly, and the special issues of informed consent and pain control in the geriatric cancer patient.