[Clinical Trials for Older Cancer Patients]

There are 3 major problems in clinical trials for older cancer patients. First, the number of older patients enrolled in clinical trials is very small, given the proportion of older patients with cancer. Second, most clinical trials for enrolled patients have not been evaluates by geriatric assessments(GA). These issues make it difficult to extrapolate the results of clinical trials conducted to clinical practice, as the background differences between patients enrolled for clinical trials and requiring treatment in clinical practice are not apparent. Finally, for the implementation of safe and effective cancer chemotherapy, multifaceted GA and intervention based on GA results are important for the treatment of older patients but the results of clinical trials to verify the usefulness of functional evaluation are still insufficient. Especially in Japan, the penetration rate of GA evaluation in clinical practice is very low. In the future, it is expected that by establishing a clinical trial system for older patients and creating evidence, it will be possible to propose optimal treatment based on the results of GA rather than judging the treatment policy based only on the chronological age.