[Care requirements for elderly cancer patients]

The oncology care system is insufficiently directed to the treatment situation of elderly tumour patients. There is a lack of specific studies focusing on the application and effects of antineoplastic substances in elderly patients to forward the utilisation of all available therapeutical options. The reality of care of elderly patients, especially elderly women, is marked by problems of access to the treatment opportunities. Questions of social support have to be raised. A specialised geriatric assessment in oncology can improve diagnostic preconditions in the treatment of the elderly. Restrictions of activities of daily living, comorbidities, cognitive handicaps, and malnutrition are to be surveyed among all patients > 70 years of age. Studies for the systematic involvement of assessments in the treatment routine are necessary. The cooperation of geriatricians and oncologists has to become a more routine process to work out diagnosis and treatment standards for elderly cancer patients. The oncology care system has to meet the challenge of providing adequate care which links specialised tumour treatment with palliative care, especially for elderly patients with advanced tumour diseases.