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Breast Cancer in Elderly Women

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Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery

Abstract

In the setting where breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women, and in which the incidence of breast cancer increases with age, herein we review the important issues related to the management of breast cancer in the elderly (defined as those older than 70 years of age), including the impact of age on the value of mammographic screening, the selection of local surgical therapy, the need for adjuvant radiotherapy, the efficacy and toxicity of systemic therapy, and the effect of mortality due to breast cancer in this population.

We conclude that screening mammography in healthy women up to 75–80 years of age appears beneficial, that healthy elderly breast cancer patients should undergo surgery of the primary tumor (excision to negative margins or mastectomy) using standard selection criteria, that sentinel node biopsy is the axillary staging procedure of choice for clinically node-negative women if the finding of nodal metastases would alter treatment, and that axillary dissection remains standard management for patients presenting with clinically evident metastases. We also conclude that good local control is obtained with excision alone and endocrine therapy for T1, estrogen receptor-positive tumors, while radiotherapy should be given for others undergoing breast-conserving therapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Breast Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Monica Morrow & Oriana Petruolo

Authors
  1. Monica Morrow
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  2. Oriana Petruolo
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Correspondence to Monica Morrow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Surgical Service, Yale University School of Medicine VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Ronnie A. Rosenthal

  2. SUNY Downstate School of Public Health, National Capital Region Johns Hopkins Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Michael E. Zenilman

  3. Center for Geriatric Surgery, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Mark R. Katlic

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA

    Jason Johanning

  2. Duke Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Sandhya Lagoo-Deenadayalan

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Morrow, M., Petruolo, O. (2017). Breast Cancer in Elderly Women. In: Rosenthal, R., Zenilman, M., Katlic, M. (eds) Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20317-1_63-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20317-1_63-1

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