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Geriatric Assessment

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Management of Hematological Cancer in Older People

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Abstract

The majority of hematologic malignancies occur in patients aged more than 65 years. Such patients have very variable health status, comorbidity levels, and geriatric syndromes prevalence Kamalakannan, Munuswamy. It is important to identify who would be a candidate for standard treatment schemes, and who would be a candidate for modified therapeutic approaches. Accurate assessment of patient fitness and comorbidities is key when planning therapy for this group as such factors will affect prognosis. In this paper, we review the published literature on a comprehensive geriatric assessment in patients with hematologic malignancies and its correlation with outcomes. Results are accumulating rapidly. The most explored disease setting had been high-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Many authors appear to converge on a definition of frailty based on severe comorbidity by CIRS-G, altered Activities of Daily Living, and geriatric syndromes. Two general models have also been constructed to predict tolerance to chemotherapy. Future trials should integrate and compare these assessments as correlates or stratification tools in order to build on the early results already available.

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  1. Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Martine Extermann

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Correspondence to Martine Extermann .

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  1. Department of Palliative Care, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Thüringen, Germany

    Ulrich Wedding

  2. St Helens Teaching Hospital, University of Liverpool, St Helens, United Kingdom

    Riccardo A. Audisio

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Extermann, M. (2015). Geriatric Assessment. In: Wedding, U., Audisio, R. (eds) Management of Hematological Cancer in Older People. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2837-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2837-3_13

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