Eighty five years and older cancer cases and their clinical characteristics

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality and its risk is increasing related to advanced age. The experience on cancer and its management in the elderly population is quite limited. In this study we aimed to analyze 85 years and older solid cancer cases and their clinical characteristics, followed in-between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017 in Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Department of Medical Oncology. The data obtained from the hospital registries were analyzed by the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) packet program and p<0,05 was accepted as significant. Patients (n=150) with mean ages of 89,53±2,68, 58% male and 42% female were included. Most common complaints were tumor (28,7%), urinary infections (17,4%) and pain (16%). Of the patients 79,3% had co-morbid diseases, most commonly hypertension (66%), cardiac insufficiency (26%) and chronic obstructive lung diseases (22,7%), respectively. In males were significantly more frequent compared to females (33,3 vs 7.9%), (p<0.001). Most frequent cancer diagnosis were skin (30%), lung (12,7%) and urinary bladder (11,3%) cancers. In the initial staging Positron Emission Tomography (PET-BT) was used most frequently (42,7%, p<0,001). Lung (p=0,013) and urinary bladder (p=0,001) cancers were more frequent in males compared to female patients. Of the patients 26.7% were smokers with significant male dominancy (43,7 vs 3,2%, p<0,001). In smoker males both lung and urinary bladder cancers were more prevalent. Mostly surgical and hormonal treatments were used due to advanced age and co-morbid diseases. The ratio of patients who had received chemotherapy was low. This study was informative on the frequency of co-morbid diseases, the importance of smoking in carcinogenesis, increased use of PET-BT in staging and the difficulties of treatment in elderly patients. It is certain that extended prospective studies are much needed.