Anna Gagliardi, MSc, MLS
Program Manager
Surgical Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario,
Toronto, ON.
A. Denny DePetrillo, MD, FRCSC
Division of Gynecological Oncology,
University Health Network-Princess Margaret Hospital Site,
Toronto, ON.
A projected 134,100 new cases of cancer and 65,300 deaths from cancer will occur in Canada in 2001.1 Forty percent of men and 35% of women will develop cancer during their lifetime and just over 25% of men and 20% of women will die of cancer. Given better and more widely used screening tests such as mammography for breast cancer and the PSA blood test for prostate cancer, more cases of cancer are being detected. Moreover, mortality from these cancers has decreased because they are being caught at an earlier, more treatable stage.
The incidence of most cancers increases with age and it is estimated that 55% of human cancer occurs in individuals 65 years of age and older. The literature on cancer treatment for the elderly is limited but it has been suggested that this demographic may be subject to underscreening, understaging, less aggressive therapy, lack of participation in clinical trials, or no treatment at all.2,3 It has been demonstrated that older adults desire curative surgical treatment as much as younger patients, but they believe more strongly that doctors should make treatment decisions, making them more vulnerable to possible age bias.
