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The number of older individuals with cancer is increasing exponentially, mandating that oncologists contemplate more comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to treatment of this cohort. Recruitment of assessment instruments validated in older patients can be invaluable for guiding treatment and decision-making by both patients and providers, and can arguably contribute to improving outcomes and health-related quality of life. The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment is one such validated instrument that can be used by oncologists to assess patient readiness and appropriateness for prescribed cancer therapy. As a multidisciplinary diagnostic and treatment process, it comprises functional status, cognitive status, social support, and advance care preferences, and is an ideal instrument for evaluating complex older individuals. It is well established that many older individuals with cancer travel with multiple comorbid illnesses, including cognitive impairment, and when presented with a cancer diagnosis struggle to choose from multiple treatment options. In addition to the complete medical history, the ability of patients to decide on a course of therapy in concert with their oncologist is critically important. Alternatively, many oncologists are conflicted as to whether true informed consent for treatment can be obtained from many older patients. Having a roadmap to decision-making capacity is therefore an inescapable imperative in geriatric oncology, because careful attention must be directed at identifying older patients with cancer who might benefit from these assessments and the individualized treatment plans that emerge.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older adults aged 60 to 79 years. The biology of certain cancers and responsiveness to therapy changes with the patient’s age. Advanced age alone should not preclude the use of effective treatment that could improve quality of life or extend meaningful survival. The challenge of managing older patients with cancer is to assess whether the expected benefits of treatment are superior to the risk in a population with decreased life expectancy and decreased tolerance to stress. These guidelines provide an approach to decision-making in older cancer patients based on comprehensive geriatric assessment and also include diseasespecific issues related to age in the management of some cancer types in older adults.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older adults aged 60 to 79 years. Older patients with good performance status are able to tolerate commonly used treatment modalities as well as younger patients, particularly when adequate supportive care is provided. For older patients who are able to tolerate curative treatment, options include surgery, radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. RT can be highly effective and well tolerated in carefully selected patients, and advanced age alone should not preclude the use of RT in older patients with cancer. Judicious application of advanced RT techniques that facilitate normal tissue sparing and reduce RT doses to organs at risk are important for all patients, and may help to assuage concerns about the risks of RT in older adults. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on the recent updates to the 2016 NCCN Guidelines for Older Adult Oncology specific to the use of RT in the management of older adults with cancer.