[Head and neck cancers in geriatric patients].

Cancer is a disease the incidence of which rises with age. Given that the risk of developing cancer increases with advancing age, a growing number of elderly patients will need treatment for cancer in the future, and head and neck surgeons are increasingly being faced with therapeutic dilemmas regarding this age group. Related publications show that older patients are less likely than younger patients to receive standard treatment. Therapeutical planning must be based not only on tumor characteristics, but also on the physiological, rather than the chronological, age of the patient. Comorbidity is the most important factor in less intensively treatment of elderly patients. Complete geriatric assessment and a multidisiclinary approach are the crucial points. Surgeons, radiation therapy specialists, medical oncologists and geriatricians must actively cooperate in this setting. Recruitment of elderly cancer patients to more clinical trials is needed to enhance our knowledge and to offer optimum treatment to this unique subgroup.