Principles of cancer surgery in older adults

• The elderly population has recorded an unprecedented growth over the last 20 years. Despite the evidence that cancer is a disease of the elderly, very little level 1 evidence on its treatment comes from current scientific literature, since patients older than 70 are often excluded from clinical randomized trials. In addition, information obtained from the methodologically well-designed studies does not always apply to elderly patients. Unfortunately, this may also translate in substandard cancer care delivered to this group as recently flagged by EUROCARE-5, the widest collaborative research project on cancer survival in Europe. The same scenario has been reported by the National Cancer Intelligence Network showing how in the UK elderly patients affected by solid tumor receive less surgery as compared to the younger counterpart. The difficulty in applying the “standard of care” more broadly needs to be searched in a combination of patients’ comorbidities, psychosocial issues, and physicians’ attitude. All these factors contribute to the challenge in the perioperative decision-making, eventually affecting the treatment outcomes. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Kirurgi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Surgery (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cancer

Communication

Complications

Elderly

Functional recovery

Minimally Invasive Surgery

Mortality

Multidisciplinary

Overtreatment

Patients’ perspectives

Prehabilitation

Quality of life

Surgery

Undertreatment

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