Other Senior Cancers

We all know that cancer can strike just about anyone at any time, often when least expected. However, the risk of developing cancer increases as you age, statistics have long shown, and there are certain types of cancer that are more prevalent among seniors. Why? Experts surmise that many seniors simply cease taking as good care of themselves as they once did. That includes failing to take preventative steps like scheduling yearly mammograms. Some seniors don't eat as well as they once did or have stopped exercising, both of which can affect overall health. Others have been smoking for decades, with the effects of tobacco use finally catching up to them in old age. Hence, keeping up with good healthcare and continuing healthy habits may indeed play a role in whether or not seniors avoid the "big C."

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, behind lung cancer. Nearly 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, notes the National Cancer Institute, and about 60 percent of those cancers are found in women over 65 years of age. As a matter of fact, a woman in her 80s has a 1-in-8 chance of developing the disease.

Treatment for seniors is the same as for other women and usually involves chemo, radiation, and often some type of surgery. If the cancer is detected early and treated properly, 98 percent of breast cancer victims survive, including seniors. This is why annual mammograms are so essential. Seniors who aren't receiving mammograms because of the cost should look for free or reduced price testing for the uninsured or underinsured at a hospital near their home.

Colon Cancer

About 90 percent of all cases of colon cancer occur in individuals over the age of 50. Like breast cancer, the main reason for this high number is the fact that seniors simply stop taking advantage of screening procedures. Yet, doctors say, if colon cancer is detected in a senior adult, they have just as good a chance of surviving the disease as someone who is significantly younger.

Of course, there are co-morbidity issues to consider, but a senior who is basically healthy should be able to survive the disease if it is detected at an early stage. Unfortunately, screening decreases rapidly as both men and women age, leaving them open to late detection of this type of cancer and a much lower chance for survival.

Prostate Cancer

PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing has allowed the medical community to make great strides in detecting prostate cancer, yet the senior population often fails to take advantage of this simple blood test that experts say is quite accurate. Hence, the incidence of prostate cancer among older men is very high.

Furthermore, a study in a December 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association notes that elderly men who sought treatment for localized prostate cancer lived "significantly longer" than those who did not. Simply put, routine screening and - in most cases - a short course of radiation therapy saved thousands of lives that would have been claimed by prostate cancer.

Lung Cancer

Most cases of lung cancer among senior citizens are caused by years and years of smoking. As with many other cancers, like mesothelioma, the median age of those with lung cancer is over 60 and, says the National Cancer Institute, 90 percent of those individuals are current or ex-smokers. Experts also note that many elderly lung cancer patients are under-treated, basically because smoking causes so many co-morbidity issues like heart disease, making treatment especially precarious. Hence, the death rate among elderly lung cancer patients is quite high.

Seniors Living with Cancer

Sadly, cancer is simply harder to handle when you're older. Chemotherapy and radiation and their side effects, for example, are much harder on an older individual. Side effects like nausea are much more prevalent in seniors who are undergoing treatment, experts note, and fatigue caused by certain cancer therapies can be simply overwhelming for the older individual.

These are just a few of the issues with which the cancer patient and his/her family will need to contend, often prompting the need to seek outside help or more support from friends and other family members in order to ease the burden on the primary caregiver.

Sources

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

The National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov