Use of geriatric assessment and screening tools of frailty in elderly patients with prostate cancer. Review

The management of prostate cancer in the elderly is a major public health concern in most countries. Currently, most prostate cancers are diagnosed in elderly males. The elderly population is very heterogeneous. Thus, the current challenge is to identify better those individuals for whom specific screening tools and a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) would be beneficial. On the basis of the recommendations of the Prostate Cancer Working Group in the International Society of Geriatric Oncology, older patients with prostate cancer should be managed according to their individual health status and not by their age. CGA is the best tool for determining the health status of an older patient. In this article, we sought to assemble all available evidence on the models of CGA and the prevalence of geriatric conditions in older patients with prostate cancer. We also discuss the feasibility of the most used screening tools in elderly patients, that is, the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) and G-8 as screening tools in this group of patients.