No one with a child who has suddenly been diagnosed with cancer would dream of consulting a regular oncologist. Distraught parents rightly seek out the best pediatric oncologist they can find. At the other end of the age spectrum are older adults who also deserve age-appropriate specialists. With the aging baby boomer population about to take its place among those most apt to develop cancer, geriatric oncology is coming into its own.
Media-hype notwithstanding, cancer is still primarily a disease of older people. According to the latest statistics, those over 65 account for 60 percent of all new cancers. Barring a sudden, miraculous breakthrough, this means those who were born in 1946–the oldest of the baby- boomers–are about to become part of a cancer epidemic.
As things stand now, cancer care may not be ready for them. The medical community, which has been responsible for wonderful new cancer drugs and treatments, has still not defined optimal protocols for most older oncology patients. This is especially true for those patients who are over 80, seniors we have termed the oldest-old.
Most researchers appear uninterested in this segment of the population. Clinical trials for cancer treatments often exclude patients over 70. Medical personnel are, for the most part, taught that elderly cancer patients are too frail, too ill, and too cognitively impaired to withstand treatment. According to this formula: why treat if drugs and therapies are simply going to make the patient sicker while prolonging the inevitable and, in the end, not result in any benefits?
These assumptions are not only untrue, they have impeded research, education, care, and public policy that must be updated and then implemented if we are to acknowledge the unique needs of older adults with cancer.