BREAST-CANCER IN THE ELDERLY

Objective/Methods To determine the clinical behavior and outcome of br east cancer in the elderly, a series of 184 women older than age 69 ye ars who received treatment for locoregional breast cancer at The Unive rsity of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1976 and 1985 were studied for a median of 80 months. Results The results indicate that elderly women can tolerate standard surgical therapy and survive disea se-free for many years; the breast cancer-specific survival rate of pa tients in this study was 79% at 7 years. Although 33% of patients had stage I disease, only 10% underwent breast conservation surgery. Despi te 46% of patients having stage II and 21% having stage III breast can cer, fewer than 13% received systemic adjuvant therapy. Noncompliance with breast screening guidelines was evident in that only 3% of patien ts had tumors detected by routine screening mammograms and only 12% by routine physical examinations. Conclusions Women with breast cancer s hould be informed of treatment options and the advantages and disadvan tages of each choice based on physiologic rather than chronologic age.