Surgical interventions that can improve quality of life for older cancer patients

Up until the last several decades, surgeons have of necessity focused on survival as the first priority of cancer treatment, and quality of life has been a secondary issue. Now, very radical surgical procedures are less often necessary, because early diagnosis and smaller tumors are more common, and because radiotherapy and chemotherapy have been shown to be as or more effective than extensive surgical resections for many large cancers. Therefore, surgeons can select treatment options that maximize quality of life without increasing the risk of treatment failure. Older patients respond to surgical cancer treatment in much the same way as younger adults, and can benefit greatly from this flexible therapeutic approach. Solid tumors for which treatment options are discussed in this paper include cancer of the breast, rectum, prostate, oral cavity, melanoma, and soft tissue sarcoma.