Geriatric oncology is a branch of medicine that is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the elderly, usually defined as aged 65 and older.
This fairly young but increasingly important subspecialty incorporates the special needs of the elderly into the treatment of cancer.
Currently, 60% of newly diagnosed malignant tumors and 70% of cancer deaths occur in people aged 65 years or older.
For example, older adults:[3][4] Clinical trials usually exclude the elderly, and therefore, guidelines for treatment of cancer were mainly based on the younger population.
[10] For these reasons, it is important that older patients (especially if frail, or have multiple medical problems) being considered for cancer treatment should undergo comprehensive geriatric assessment, to take all these factors into account.
In the United States, the ASCO Geriatric Oncology Fellowship program was developed with funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation.
[16] The American Board of Internal Medicine approved a 3-year combined fellowship training program in medical oncology and geriatrics.
[10] The Geriatric Oncology Consortium is a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the age based disparities in research, education and treatment in the older adult cancer population.
[21] The International Society of Geriatric Oncology or Société Internationale d'Oncologie Gériatrique in French, hence the acronym SIOG, was founded in 2000 and was officially registered as a Not-for-profit organisation under the Swiss law in October 2012.
SIOG is a multidisciplinary society, including physicians in the fields of oncology and geriatrics, and allied health professionals and has over 1000 members in more than 40 countries around the world.
The goal of SIOG is to foster the development of health professionals in the field of geriatric oncology, in order to optimize treatment of older adults with cancer.