title: Prostate cancer in the elderly.
abstract: The incidence of prostate cancer is age related and increased longevity increases the number of elderly men with the disease. Management of prostate cancer in the elderly requires a different approach. Screening and aggressive case finding to seek out early confined disease are contraindicated in those with a life expectation below 10 years. Early confined disease in the elderly is usually managed expectantly. Hormone treatment is more appropriate for locally advanced disease, and is a valuable non-surgical treatment for bladder outflow obstruction due to prostate cancer. A significant proportion of elderly men with prostate cancer still die from other diseases. Hormone refractory disease in the elderly should be managed by palliation of symptoms rather than toxic second-line therapies. The aim always is diagnosis where appropriate, treatment which will be of benefit, and quality rather than length of life.
authors.affiliation: Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kirk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy