How old was the most elderly patient you have successfully treated with definitive radiation or chemoradiation for advanced oropharyngeal cancer?

Topics: Head and Neck Cancers • Radiation Oncology

Is there an age in which you would not offer definitive treatment?

How do systemic therapy options, dose, and field sizes change with age of the patient?

Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution

The timing of this question could not be more fitting, since I am currently treating a 97 y.o. gentleman with radiation therapy for his HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer. Upon his simulation, my therapist and nursing staff gave me a hard time for even offering the patient any cancer treatment. Lit...

Comments

Radiation Oncologist at Northeast Georgia Medical Center
Excellent comments.

Radiation Oncologist at Wellspan Sechler Family Cancer Center
Beautifully said!

Radiation Oncologist at City of Hope
So well put.

Radiation Oncologist at Northeast Radiation Oncology
Thank you!

Radiation Oncologist at VA Long Beach Healthcare System
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, @Steve P. ...

Radiation Oncologist at Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Thank you for your thoughtful, informative and mov...

Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
Wow, thanks to all who have voiced positive feedba...

Radiation Oncologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
@Steve P. Lee, your “common sense” is ...

Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
Thanks for the encouraging words, Jerry. Now I'm r...

Radiation Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center
So I did as Dhara & Jerry had suggested, and got a...

Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution

The question with elderly patients should be whether length of life times magnitude of benefit warrants the toxicity and cost of treatment. Focusing on the length of life alone can obscure the fact the definitive treatment can alleviate pain and suffering far better than palliative treatment in...

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