Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies for Severe Tumors in the Elderly
10.3870/j.issn.1004-0781.2024.03.006
- VernacularTitle:老年重症肿瘤的诊疗策略
- Author:
Liqiang WANG
1
;
Haiyi DENG
;
Ming LIU
;
Xinqing LIN
;
Xiaohong XIE
;
Zhanhong XIE
;
Yinyin QIN
;
Ming OUYANG
;
Chengzhi ZHOU
Author Information
1. 呼吸疾病国家重点实验室,呼吸疾病国家临床研究中心,广州呼吸健康研究院,前沿交叉学科研究中心重点实验室,广州医科大学附属第一医院呼吸与危重症医学科,广州 510120
- Keywords:
Severe tumors;
Elderly patients;
Diagnosis and treatment strategy
- From:
Herald of Medicine
2024;43(3):365-373
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Patients with severe tumors do not refer to the patients with end-stage tumors,but rather to the patients with a performance status(PS)score between 2 and 4 in certain stages due to various reasons,such as acute or chronic comorbidities,tumor itself,or treatment-related adverse events.To these patients,there is a high probability of achieving survival benefit and/or improvement in PS scores after synergistic management of available life-support technologies and anti-tumor therapies based on dynamic and precise testing.Elderly patients with tumors frequently present with one or more chronic illnesses and have poor toler-ance and compliance to treatment.Moreover,their treatment regimens often lack high-quality clinical evidence,making them more susceptible to developing severe tumors.The management of severe tumors in the elderly is based on three basic diagnosis and treatment technologies:dynamic and precise detection,powerful life support technologies,and skillful application of current anti-tumor treatments.In specific clinical practice,the following 7 flexible and individualized treatment strategies should be adopted for different tumor types:1.concurrent management of cancer and comorbidities,2.upgrading and downgrading of anti-tumor drugs based on PS score,3.dynamic accurate detection,4.skillful combinations for increasing efficacy and reducing toxicity,5.complete overview,paying equal attention to systemic therapy and local therapy,6.safety first in medication for the elderly,7.multi-discipli-nary participation,individualized and comprehensive treatment.This article introduced the concept of severe tumors in the elderly and the associated management strategies,to increase awareness and provide feasible guidance for clinical practice.
