Age Role in the Clinical Management of Urological Cancers

 Nazario Foschi   Marco Campetella   Luca Di Gianfrancesco   Mauro Ragonese   Pierluigi Russo   Pierfrancesco Bassi

Abstract

Urological cancer incidence is increasing worldwide and these cancers represent a big challenge for both patients and physicians. Age is not only a risk factor for these cancers, but also represents a very important feature to be evaluated for prognosis and in every decision-making process, playing a crucial role for these patient’s management. As most aggressive tumor occur in older patients, there are many other aspects to be considered in this population to find out the best treatment option. Cancers in younger patients represent also a huge challenge for clinicians, with very specific features, in particular about renal cancer. In addition to this, over and under treatment of specific urological tumors can occur, with age being a key factor leading to different treatment options. Other patient’s factors, like comorbidities and life expectancy also play an important role in this setting an must be given full consideration.

With this paper, we wanted to underline the importance of age for the therapeutic decisions and prognosis of patients affected by renal cell cancer, bladder cancer, upper urothelial tract cancer and prostate cancer.