Advances in caring for the older cancer patient：a report from the 2015 conference of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology

Aparadoxincancerresearchisthatthemajorityofpatientsenrolledinclinicaltrialsarerelativelyyoungandfitwhiletypicalpatientsindailypracticeareelderlyandhavecomorbiditiesandimpairedorganfunction.Giventhesedifferences,manymajorstudiesprovideanimperfectguidetooptimizingthetreatmentofthemajorityofpatients.Sincecancerincidenceishighlycorrelatedwithage,andsincetheworld'spopulationisrapidlyageing,thisproblemcanonlyincrease.Forthisreason,oncologistsandgeriatriciansneedtocollaborateindevelopingtoolstosystematicallyassessthehealthstatusofelderlypatientsandtheirfitnesstoreceivecancertherapiesofvariousintensity.Tailoringanti-cancertreatmentsandsupportivecaretoindividualneedsshouldbeseenaspartofthemovetowardspersonalizedmedicine.Achievingthisgoalisasmuchofachallengetodevelopingandmiddle-incomecountriesasitistowesternnations.The2015annualconferenceoftheInternationalSocietyofGeriatricOncology(SIOG)heldinPrague,CzechRepublic,November2015andhadaglobalfocusonadvancingthescienceofgeriatriconcologyandsupportivecare.Centraltothisapproachisthesystematicassessmentoflifeexpectancy,independentfunctioning,andthephysicalandpsychologicalhealthofoldercancerpatients.Theassumptionbehindcomprehensivegeriatricassessmentisthatelderlycancerpatientshavecomplexneeds.Theimplicationisthateffectiveinterventionwillrequireamultidisciplinaryteam.Examplesofeffectivegeriatricassessment,multidisciplinaryworkingandsupportivecarewerepresentedattheSIOGconference.