MANAGEMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER IN THE ELDERLY: 2014 UPDATE OF THE SIOG GUIDELINES

Abstract

Oncologists and surgeons managing patients with colorectal cancer need to appreciate that approximately 60% of their patients are N70 years of age, more than 40% are N75 years and that these proportions may increase further in the future. Many of these patients will have co-morbidity and frailty issues. In an era of increased availability of anti-tumoural agents and expanding treatment strategies, elderly patients present a challenging therapeutic scenario. What may be considered “standard” management for the general population does not necessarily apply to this group where evidence-based data are lacking. It is against this backdrop that SIOG convened a task force meeting to review and update their existing recommendations for the treatment of elderly patients with colorectal cancer published in 2009. This necessitated review of the recent data on epidemiology, geriatric assessment as it relates to surgery and oncology, and the ability of older CRC patients to tolerate surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, treatment of their metastatic disease including palliative chemotherapy with and without the use of the biologics, and finally the use of adjuvant and palliative radiotherapy in the treatment of older rectal cancer patients. Disclosure of interest: None declared