[Imaging update in geriatric oncology]

The cancer is a problem that plagues all the ages but the greater part of the malignant tumors hits the old persons. The more elevated incidence sites of primary tumor in geriatrical age are the prostate, the lung and the colon-rectum in the men and the breast, the colon-rectum, the lung and the stomach in the women. The imaging has made steps of giant in the last few decades, with the introduction of new equipment and methodical news so as to assure everybody early and accurated diagnosis. For the lung carcinoma great advantages have been bring to us with the introduction of CT-PET and the multislice CT, that has concurred the execution of virtual bronchoscopy. The virtual endoscopy has been applied with happening also in the screening of the carcinoma of colon-rectum, executed through CT or MR. New MR technologies have allowed perform spectroscopic studies in such organs as prostate and breast, bringing the biochemical diagnosis beyond that morphologic. The MR then turns out fundamental in the appraisal of the Patient with bone metastases thanks also to the new whole body examinations. Finally the recent technology has allowed the execution of multiorgan CT screening bringing in this way new possibilities but also new questions.