[Therapy of elderly cancer patients from the viewpoint of the radiologist]

For elderly cancer patients radiology is of importance in diagnosis and predominantly in therapy. Non invasive diagnostic procedures, the basis for an optimal organ-saving plan of radiotherapy, are well tolerated by these patients. Prognosis, especially indication of curative or palliative radiotherapy, depend more on the general condition of health than the patient's age. Physiological alterations caused by age and concomitant diseases produce a certain risk of radiological side-effects, for which examples of the skin, lung and brain are given. Even though radiotherapy of elderly cancer patients can hardly be expressed by statistics, it often prolongs survival time and improves quality of life.