Better treatment for breast cancer in older patients

Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women. Elderly patients make up a large part of the breast cancer population and there are important specific considerations for this population. These patients are often excluded from screening programs and, despite many having early disease, may be either undertreated or subjected to mastectomy without consideration of their quality of life. Results of randomized trials in elderly patients with breast cancer have shown that mastectomy can often be avoided by using a combination of breast-conserving surgery and endocrine therapy, and use of the latter for neoadjuvant therapy may enable many with larger tumors to avoid mastectomy.