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Colorectal Cancer in Older Adults

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Geriatric Medicine

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Abstract

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of death among all malignancies. Despite advances in colorectal cancer screening, the number of deaths has increased. Given that the incidence of colorectal cancer increases with age, it’s important to tailor treatment to this population with special needs. Here we discuss how to incorporate frailty, rather than age, to assess perioperative outcomes. To this end, several useful scoring systems that can easily be incorporated into general practice have been developed. In addition, chemotherapy risk calculators such as CARG or G8 can help predict the likelihood of chemotherapy toxicity in older patients. Focused geriatric assessment in patients with colorectal cancer is associated with improved outcomes such as a decrease in the incidence of chemotherapy toxicity and decreased risk of falls. Overall, geriatricians are an important part of the oncological treatment course and can advocate for their patients to receive tailored treatments to their functional status rather than their age alone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, NJ, USA

    Armin Shahrokni, Helen Pozdniakova & Brandon Nightingale

Authors
  1. Armin Shahrokni
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  2. Helen Pozdniakova
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  3. Brandon Nightingale
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Armin Shahrokni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, Newbury Park, CA, USA

    Michael R. Wasserman

  2. Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Debra Bakerjian

  3. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aurora, CO, USA

    Sunny Linnebur

  4. Division of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Sharon Brangman

  5. Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Matteo Cesari

  6. Section of Geriatric Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Beverly Hills, CA, USA

    Sonja Rosen

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Medicine, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, NJ, USA

    Armin Shahrokni MD

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Shahrokni, A., Pozdniakova, H., Nightingale, B. (2024). Colorectal Cancer in Older Adults. In: Wasserman, M.R., Bakerjian, D., Linnebur, S., Brangman, S., Cesari, M., Rosen, S. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74720-6_78

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74720-6_78

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