针对老年人的癌症护理方法可能会有更好的效果

针对老年人的癌症护理方法可能会有更好的效果

When Lorraine Griggs' 86-year-old father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he was treated with 35 rounds of radiation, though he had a long list of other serious medical issues, including diabetes, kidney disease and high blood pressure. The treatment left him frailer, Griggs recalls.

洛林·格里格斯86岁的父亲被诊断出患有前列腺癌时，他接受了35轮放疗，尽管他还有一长串其他严重的医疗问题，包括糖尿病、肾病和高血压。格里格斯回忆说，治疗使他更加虚弱。

A few years later, when his prostate cancer reoccurred, Griggs' father received a different kind of cancer care. Before his doctor devised a treatment plan, she ordered what's known as a geriatric assessment.

几年后，当他的前列腺癌复发时，格里格斯的父亲接受了一种不同的癌症治疗方式。在他的医生制定治疗方案之前，她安排了一项所谓的老年评估。

It included a complete physical and medical history, an evaluation by a physical therapist, a psychological assessment and a cognitive exam. The doctor also asked her father about his social activities, which included driving to lunch with friends and grocery shopping with some assistance.

它包括完整的身体和病史，物理治疗师的评估，心理评估和认知检查。医生还询问了她父亲的社交活动，包括与朋友一起开车去吃午饭，以及在一些帮助下去杂货店购物。

"When the doctor saw how physically active and mentally sharp my father was at 89 years of age, but that he had several chronic, serious medical problems, including end stage kidney disease, she didn't advise him to have aggressive treatment like the first time around," says Griggs, who lives in Rochester, N.Y.

住在纽约州罗切斯特的格里格斯说：“当医生看到我父亲89岁时身体活动和精神敏锐，但他有几个慢性、严重的医疗问题，包括肾病晚期，她没有建议他像第一次那样进行积极的治疗。”

Instead, his oncologist placed her dad on one pill a day that just slowed down his cancer. Griggs' father was able to enjoy his activities for another three years until he died at the age of 92.

相反，他的肿瘤医生让她的父亲每天吃一片药，这只是延缓了他的癌症。格里格斯的父亲又享受了三年他的活动，直到他去世，享年92岁。

Geriatric assessment is an approach that clinicians use to evaluate their elderly patients' overall health status and to help them choose treatment appropriate to their age and condition. The assessment includes questionnaires and tests to gauge the patients' physical, mental and functional capacity, taking into account their social lives, daily activities and goals.

老年评估是临床医生用来评估老年患者整体健康状况并帮助他们选择适合其年龄和状况的治疗方法的一种方法。评估包括问卷和测试，考虑他们的社会生活、日常活动和目标，以衡量病人的身体、精神和功能水平。

The tool can play an important role in cancer care, according to clinicians who work with the elderly. It can be tricky to predict who will be cured, who will relapse and who will die from cancer treatment. Geriatric assessments can help physicians better estimate who will likely develop chemotherapy toxicities and other serious potential complications of cancer treatment, including death.

据专治老年人的临床医生说，这种工具可以在癌症治疗中发挥重要作用。很难预测谁会被治愈，谁会复发，谁会死于癌症治疗。老年评估可以帮助医生更好地评估哪些人可能会出现化疗毒性和癌症治疗的其他严重潜在并发症，包括死亡。

Geriatric assessment includes an evaluation by a physical therapist, a psychological assessment, a cognitive exam and a complete physical and medical history. The doctor takes all these factors into account and tallies a score for their patient to help guide their decision-making about the patient's treatment.

老年评估包括物理治疗师的评估、心理评估、认知检查和完整的有关身体和疾病的历史。医生把所有这些因素都考虑进去，并为病人打分，以帮助指导他们对病人的治疗做出决定。

Although the geriatric assessment is not 100% accurate, "it's better than the clinician eyeball test," says Supriya Gupta Mohile, a geriatric oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of Rochester. "If I didn't do a geriatric assessment and just looked at a patient I wouldn't have the same information," she says.

虽然老年评估不是100%准确，但“它比临床医生用眼睛观察好，”罗彻斯特大学老年肿瘤学家、医学教授苏普里亚·古普塔·莫海勒说。她说:“如果我不做一个老年评估，只（用眼睛）看一个病人，我就不会得到同样的信息。”

More than 60% of cancers in the U.S. occur in people older than 65. As the population grows older, so will the rate of cancer among seniors. The cancer incidence in the elderly is expected to rise 67% from 2010 to 2030, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Yet many oncologists don't have geriatric training.

美国60%以上的癌症发生在65岁以上的人身上。随着人口老龄化，老年人患癌症的比率也会增加。《临床肿瘤学杂志》2017年的一项研究显示，从2010年到2030年，老年人的癌症发病率预计将上升67%。然而，许多肿瘤学家没有接受过老年医学培训。