title: Ovarian cancer in elderly women.
abstract: The incidence of ovarian carcinoma increases with advancing age, peaking during the 7th decade of life and remaining elevated until age 80 years. Despite the high prevalence of ovarian cancer in the elderly, the management of these patients is often less aggressive than that of their younger counterparts. As a result, many elderly cancer patients receive inadequate treatment. However, data do not support the concept that age, per se, is a negative prognostic factor. In fact, the majority of elderly patients are able to tolerate the standard of care for ovarian cancer including initial surgical cytoreduction followed by platinum and taxane chemotherapy. Because functional status has not demonstrated a reliable correlation with either tumor stage or comorbidity, each patient's comorbidities should be assessed independently. For elderly patients with significant medical comorbidity, the extent of surgery and aggressiveness of chemotherapy should be tailored to the extent of disease, symptoms, overall health, and life goals. In addition, enhanced cooperation between geriatricians and oncologists may assist the pretreatment assessment of elderly patients and improve treatment guidelines in this population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA. nlambrou@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Nicholas C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Lambrou
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Bristow
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020714:Maximum Tolerated Dose; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D016190:Carboplatin; D017239:Paclitaxel; D002945:Cisplatin; D008727:Methotrexate