Digestive organ aging and cancer

Abstract

Digestive cancer is extremely frequent and is the third cause of cancer in both sexes. Prevalence is mainly in older adults with more than half of the incidence above 75 years, and diagnosis in the elderly is done at more advanced stages. Management is complex with intensive treatments combining all available anticancer modalities of treatment depending on stage: major surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, radio-chemotherapy, targeted therapy, etc. Comprehensive geriatric assessment is an essential step in this population to assess the feasibility of available treatments and the possible supportive care. So geriatric status (frail or robust) influences the final treatment decision. If specific recommendations of management have been elaborated for older adults in colorectal cancers, efforts need to be made to produce management guidelines for other digestive cancers.