Dr. Mohile On Prostate Cancer in Elderly Patients

Supriya G. Mohile, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, discusses the prevalence and treatment options for elderly patients with prostate cancer.

Mohile describes prostate cancer as primarily a disease of older people. In general, the median age for patients with prostate cancer is 79, compared to the early 70's in colon and lung cancer. Information that is usually uncommon for older populations is more prevalent in prostate cancer because of the higher median age.

Major trials investigating new therapeutic agents have enrolled more geriatric patients because of the abundance of this patient type. This has provided more data on the risks and benefits of treatment for elderly patients with prostate cancer than other types of tumors.

As the population ages and people live longer with prostate cancer it becomes more challenging to treat the disease. There is a need to be careful with aggressive treatment in earlier asymptomatic stages of prostate cancer, once the disease becomes more advanced or symptomatic an aggressive treatment makes more sense.