Older age should not preclude adjuvant therapy post-CRC resection: Aussie doctors

Patient selection for chemotherapy should be based on 'balancing comorbidities, likelihood to tolerate therapy and patient wishes'.

Over-80s with colorectal cancer are far less likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy than younger patients despite having similar oncological and post-resection outcomes, Australian doctors say.

Their review of nearly 750 patients showed that while octogenarians had poorer overall survival, their cancer-specific and recurrence-free survival rates were comparable to non-octogenarians.