Breast cancer in elderly women – perspective of geriatricians

Breast cancer is one of the neoplasms with highest incidence andprevalence among women. Elderly women are frequently excludedfrom clinical trials and very few prospective data on this age groupare collected. In this article, we reviewed some aspects of this typeof cancer in the elderly population. Although elderly women arefrequently spared of full doses of toxic treatments, some data suggest that there is significantly higher benefit when normal-dose therapy is well tolerated. The current review suggests that chronological age by itself should not be a criterion to withhold chemotherapy. Due to heterogeneity in the geriatric population, prospective studies are necessary to address global geriatric assessment.