Geriatric Oncology: Podcast with Melisa Wong and Louise Walter
Geriatric Oncology has arrived.\xa0 Yes, Louise Walter has been leading the fight to improve cancer screening in older adults for years.\xa0 But when it came to geriatricizing the way we assess and treat older adults with cancer, the evidence was thin. In our prior podcast with Supriya Mohile and William Dale on geriatric assessment in oncology, we couldn\u2019t say for certain if a geriatric assessment was helpful for patients with cancer.\xa0 Well now we can.\xa0\xa0
We are joined by Melisa Wong, a geriatric oncologist, and Louise Walter, a geriatrician and leader in cancer screening for older adults, to talk about the shifting landscape of geriatric oncology, including:
- How to think about cancer screening in older adults, moving beyond a one-size-fits all age-based approach to individualize cancer screening decisions.\xa0 We also talk about the importance of thought pieces in driving a field forward.
- 2 landmark trials of the geriatric assessment in oncology, one in JAMA Oncology (first author Daneng Li) and the other in the Lancet (first author Supriya Mohile) (William Dale senior author for both studies).\xa0 In both studies, grade 3+ toxicity was reduced in the geriatric assessment arm.
- Melisa Wong\u2019s study in JAGS finding a constriction of life space for older adults with cancer, and discussion of patient centered outcomes beyond traditional outcomes such as grade 3+ chemotherapy toxicity.
Links of Interest:
And as a bonus, you get to hear Louise on piano and vocals and I cover Wouldn\u2019t It be Loverly, from My Fair Lady.\xa0\xa0
-Enjoy!