Determination of Diagnosis and Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer Patients Considering Frailty / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

As population ages, much more elderly patients have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer especially in Korea. Diverse factors such as comorbidities and disabilities make the establishment of evidence-based guidance more challenging. Chronological age, literally measured in days, months and years from the time the individual was born, is not an ideal predictor in determining personal health condition; individualization of treatment protocols with identifying the concept of frailty is the key to produce an advanced treatment plan of elderly patients suffering from head and neck malignancy. Frailty is a type of geriatric syndrome which refers to the status with age-associated declines in physiologic function and increased vulnerability to stress conditions independent of age. Therefore, screening the status of frailty may be beneficial for the elderly patients to determine decent treatment option and maximize the efficiency. In order to provide otolaryngologists prognostic information adapting the concept of frailty, research papers published from 2000 to 2018 are comprehensively reviewed in this article. For optimal care of elderly patients with head and neck cancer, frailty is definitely required to be assessed in order to establish an ideal treatment option and increase the efficacy of the treatment.