[Urologic tumors in old age]

Malignant urological diseases account for an important part of all malignant tumors in the elderly. It is obvious that in the elderly the same diagnostic tools should be applied for diagnosing and staging of a tumor. This screening is important to select those tumors which are accessible for curative therapy. Generally this is only possible when the tumor is limited within the borders of the organ. In these cases curative surgery with acceptable morbidity and minimal mortality is also possible in the elderly. Radical nephrectomy, prostatectomy and cystectomy are applied when a life-expectancy of approximately 10 years is present. When metastasized, only palliative measurements are possible. The quality of life now plays a major role and is more important than the survival time. This has to be taken into account when considering palliative treatment of any kind.