Cancer in the frail patient - A coming epidemic

With the aging of the population, frailty has emerged as a new clinical ent ity. The frail person has exhausted any functional reserve. Current criteri a for the recognition of frailty include age of over 85 years, dependence i n one or more activities of daily living three or more comorbid conditions, and the presence of one or more geriatric syndromes. It is calculated that there are approximately 6 million frail patients in the United States and approximately 400,000 of them have cancer. Management of cancer in the frai l person is mainly comprised of palliation, which may include some forms of chemotherapy, such as navelbine, gemcitabine, or low-dose taxanes.