Abstract
This article summarizes the seminal publications from mid-2016 through 2017 in the area of medical care for older adults with cancer. Areas addressed include chemotherapy tolerance and efficacy in the aged, geriatric fitness assessments, and advancements in palliative and supportive care. The practice-changing finding from this past year’s publications is that antipsychotics should not be used in the management of terminal delirium in older adults receiving palliative care. The other trials demonstrated an improved understanding of the utility of geriatric assessments in patients with cancer, developed the body of information about which chemotherapy agents are safe and effective in older adults (and which are not), and expanded our understanding of good palliative and supportive care.
Highlights
The population continues to “gray” as the baby boomers reach retirement age and beyond
Median progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 10.3 months in the pembrolizumab group and 6.0 months in the chemotherapy group (HR for disease progression or death, 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.37 to 0.68; p
A subgroup analysis by age shows that this PFS benefit existed in the 141 patients younger than 65 years old (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40–0.92) and in the 164 patients who were 65 and older (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.29–0.70), and this suggests that pembrolizumab is associated with a PFS advantage in elderly patients as well as younger patients
Summary
F1000 Faculty Reviews are commissioned from members of the prestigious F1000 Faculty. In order to make these reviews as comprehensive and accessible as possible, peer review takes place before publication; the referees are listed below, but their reports are not formally published
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