Older cancer patients 'would benefit from bedside geriatric assessment'
Wednesday 26th October 2011
Older cancer patients could benefit from bedside assessments, new research shows.
Scientists at the Wake Forest Baptise Medical Center have developed a simple assessment tool to determine how well older adults with acute myelogenous leukemia can handle the treatment.
Researcher Heidi D Klepin said that doctors should look beyond the patient's chronological age to determine whether they will be able to handle the treatment.
"You're 70, but what kind of a 70-year-old are you? Are you a very functional 70-year-old and pass all these assessments with flying colours?" she said.
"Then you should be treated like a 55-year-old. But if you're a frail 70-year-old, we need to take that into consideration and figure out ways to get you through the treatment better or consider alternative treatment strategies that can be better tolerated."
While it is well known that older patients with acute leukemia do not benefit from standard aggressive therapies as much as younger patients, some older people will respond to this treatment well.
Dr Klepin emphasised the importance of individualising treatment to cater to the different abilities of each patient.
The study looked at whether a bedside geriatric assessment (GA) could be a useful tool to evaluate cognitive function, psychological state, physical function and co-morbid diseases to detect which patients would be most prone to the side effects of AML chemotherapy.
It was found that patients with depressive symptoms, distress and physical function impairments had more difficulty with mobility tasks. The questionnaires and tests done during the GA were able to detect symptoms and impairments that standard oncology assessments would not.
"Our hope is to take this assessment and streamline it so any nurse can administer it at the bedside and give the clinician more information about that patient than they would have had before. This will help so we can get them through their treatments in the best shape possible," said Dr Klepin.
Written by Megan Smith
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