Abstract
The management of elderly patients with breast cancer is complex. Currently, most
of their treatment guidelines have been adapted from studies conducted in younger
patients. However, studies have shown that breast cancer in the elderly have distinctive
biological characteristics from the young. Also, older patients have different needs
from younger patients—including increased frailty, decreased functional status, comorbidities,
polypharmacy, cognition, psychosocial support and nutrition. These should be assessed
appropriately to take into account their daily function and quality of life. A comprehensive
geriatric assessment could help identify pre-treatment risk factors and could guide
clinical decision making, improving morbidity and prognosis. We describe a potential
set up for a dedicated multidisciplinary-led elderly breast cancer clinic to provide
the assessment, review and management of this distinctive set of patients.
Keywords
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Biography
Miss Siau-Wei Tang, BMedSci, BMBS, MRCS(Eng) is an Academic Clinical Fellow at the Division of Surgery, University of Nottingham. She qualified at the University of Nottingham and is currently undergoing surgical training at the East Midlands Healthcare Workforce Deanery. She is currently carrying out clinical research in the area of breast surgery, particularly in the area of elderly women with breast cancer.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 13, 2010
Accepted:
July 12,
2010
Received in revised form:
June 12,
2010
Received:
April 13,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
