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Systemic Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer in Older Adults

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Book cover Geriatric Oncology

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Abstract

The management of older adults with breast cancer poses a challenging dilemma to most treating oncologists given the under-representation of older age groups in most pivotal clinical trials. Older patients are at risk of undertreatment, which may be due to physician bias and/or patient preference. There is mounting evidence suggesting that older patients with breast cancer may derive as much benefit from treatment as their younger counterparts. However, generalizing treatment for all older breast cancer patients without further health assessment poses the risk of over-treatment. Although the efficacy outcomes may be similar across age groups, the tolerance to toxicity may differ, as determined mostly by comorbidities, organ function, and aging heterogeneity. In metastatic breast cancer, the main goal of care is to offer the least toxic treatment that can control symptoms, prolong survival, and preserve the quality of life. Therefore, defining the goals of treatment while carefully assessing the overall health status in addition to risk-benefit ratio is paramount to the treatment decision-making.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Oncology Department, Nuovo Ospedale-Santo Stefano, Instituto Toscano Tumori, Prato, Italy

    Anna Rachelle Mislang & Laura Biganzoli

  2. Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, Department of Medical Oncology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Anna Rachelle Mislang

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Curie/Hôpital René Huguenin, Saint-Cloud, France

    Etienne Brain

Authors
  1. Anna Rachelle Mislang
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  2. Laura Biganzoli
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  3. Etienne Brain
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Etienne Brain .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Adult Oncology Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Martine Extermann

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Institute Curie, Hôpital René Huguenin, Saint-Cloud, France

    Etienne Brain

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Mislang, A.R., Biganzoli, L., Brain, E. (2020). Systemic Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer in Older Adults. In: Extermann, M. (eds) Geriatric Oncology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57415-8_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57415-8_30

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57414-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57415-8

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