Geriatric assessment for oncologists
The world is experiencing aging of its population. Age-specific incidence rates of cancer are higher and cancer is now recognized as a part of aging. Treating older patients can be challenging. The clinical behavior of some tumors changes with age and the aging process itself brings physiological ch...
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Chinese Anti-Cancer Association
2015
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4706523/ |
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pubmed-47065232016-01-15 Geriatric assessment for oncologists Korc-Grodzicki, Beatriz Holmes, Holly M. Shahrokni, Armin Review Article The world is experiencing aging of its population. Age-specific incidence rates of cancer are higher and cancer is now recognized as a part of aging. Treating older patients can be challenging. The clinical behavior of some tumors changes with age and the aging process itself brings physiological changes leading to decline in the function of organs. It is essential to identify those patients with longer life expectancy, potentially more likely to benefit from aggressive treatment vs. those that are more vulnerable to adverse outcomes. A primary determination when considering therapy for an older cancer patient is a patient’s physiologic, rather than chronologic age. In order to differentiate amongst patients of the same age, it is useful to determine if a patient is fit or frail. Frail older adults have multiple chronic conditions and difficulties maintaining independence. They may be more vulnerable to therapy toxicities, and may not have substantial lasting benefits from therapy. Geriatric assessment (GA) may be used as a tool to determine reversible deficits and devise treatment strategies to mitigate such deficits. GA is also used in treatment decision making by clinicians, helping to risk stratify patients prior to potentially high-risk therapy. An important practical aspect of GA is the feasibility of incorporating it into a busy oncology practice. Key considerations in performing the GA include: available resources, patient population, GA tools to use, and who will be responsible for using the GA results and develop care plans. Challenges in implementing GA in clinical practice will be discussed. Chinese Anti-Cancer Association 2015-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4706523/ /pubmed/26779363 http://dx.doi.org/10.7497/j.issn.2095-3941.2015.0082 Text en 2015 Cancer Biology & Medicine This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Korc-Grodzicki, Beatriz Holmes, Holly M. Shahrokni, Armin |
| spellingShingle |
Korc-Grodzicki, Beatriz Holmes, Holly M. Shahrokni, Armin Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| author_facet |
Korc-Grodzicki, Beatriz Holmes, Holly M. Shahrokni, Armin |
| author_sort |
Korc-Grodzicki, Beatriz |
| title |
Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| title_short |
Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| title_full |
Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| title_fullStr |
Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| title_sort |
geriatric assessment for oncologists |
| description |
The world is experiencing aging of its population. Age-specific incidence rates of cancer are higher and cancer is now recognized as a part of aging. Treating older patients can be challenging. The clinical behavior of some tumors changes with age and the aging process itself brings physiological changes leading to decline in the function of organs. It is essential to identify those patients with longer life expectancy, potentially more likely to benefit from aggressive treatment vs. those that are more vulnerable to adverse outcomes. A primary determination when considering therapy for an older cancer patient is a patient’s physiologic, rather than chronologic age. In order to differentiate amongst patients of the same age, it is useful to determine if a patient is fit or frail. Frail older adults have multiple chronic conditions and difficulties maintaining independence. They may be more vulnerable to therapy toxicities, and may not have substantial lasting benefits from therapy. Geriatric assessment (GA) may be used as a tool to determine reversible deficits and devise treatment strategies to mitigate such deficits. GA is also used in treatment decision making by clinicians, helping to risk stratify patients prior to potentially high-risk therapy. An important practical aspect of GA is the feasibility of incorporating it into a busy oncology practice. Key considerations in performing the GA include: available resources, patient population, GA tools to use, and who will be responsible for using the GA results and develop care plans. Challenges in implementing GA in clinical practice will be discussed. |
| publisher |
Chinese Anti-Cancer Association |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4706523/ |
| _version_ |
1613521701931319296 |