Predictive tools for older cancer patient management

Abstract

Because older cancer patients are very heterogeneous, decision-making is difficult for physicians. Predictive tools can help provide objective data support to inform treatment decisions. Such tools exist to predict tolerance to chemotherapy, estimate treatment benefit in view of other life-limiting conditions, or assess surgical risk, for example. In this chapter we will review several of them: the Chemotherapy Risk Assessment Score for High-age patients (CRASH score), the Cancer and Aging Research Group score (CARG), various proposed risk stratification models for surgical risk, and the Lee-Schonberg Index.