title: Cancer surgery in the elderly.
abstract: The proportions both of elderly patients in the world and of elderly patients with cancer are both increasing. In the evaluation of these patients, physiologic age, and not chronologic age, should be carefully considered in the decision-making process prior to both cancer screening and cancer treatment in an effort to avoid ageism. Many tools exist to help the practitioner determine the physiologic age of the patient, which allows for more appropriate and more individualized risk stratification, both in the pre- and postoperative periods as patients are evaluated for surgical treatments and monitored for surgical complications, respectively. During and after operations in the oncogeriatric populations, physiologic changes occuring that accompany aging include impaired stress response, increased senescence, and decreased immunity, all three of which impact the risk/benefit ratio associated with cancer surgery in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Saint Agnes Hospital Center, 900 Caton Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21229, USA.
authors.forename: Gopal C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Kowdley
authors.forename: Nishant
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Merchant
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Somerville
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorospe
authors.forename: Steven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cunningham
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control