Breast cancer in the elderly

To determine the clinical behavior and outcome of breast cancer in the elderly, a series of 184 women older than age 69 years who received treatment for locoregional breast cancer at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1976 and 1985 were studied for a median of 80 months.

The results indicate that elderly women can tolerate standard surgical therapy and survive disease-free for many years; the breast cancer-specific survival rate of patients in this study was 79% at 7 years. Although 33% of patients had stage I disease, only 10% underwent breast conservation surgery. Despite 46% of patients having stage II and 21% having stage III breast cancer, fewer than 13% received systemic adjuvant therapy. Noncompliance with breast screening guidelines was evident in that only 3% of patients had tumors detected by routine screening mammograms and only 12% by routine physical examinations.

Women with breast cancer should be informed of treatment options and the advantages and disadvantages of each choice based on physiologic rather than chronologic age.