Breast cancer elderly patients are denied treatment

tunisante July 23, 2017

More than a third of UK’s 55,000 annual breast cancer cases occur in over 70s
Auditors found many are not being offered surgery over fears they will not cope
The found evidence that NHS guidelines to offer surgery to all invasive breast cancer sufferers irrespective of age are not being followed

Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
19:37 EDT, 17 July 2017

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Updated:
19:19 EDT, 18 July 2017

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More than a third of UK breast caner cases are diagnosed in the over-70s, but the chance of being offered surgery decreases rapidly with age, a study has found

Elderly women with breast cancer are being denied basic treatment such as surgery and chemotherapy, a major audit has found.

More than 55,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK – and the risk of developing the disease increases with age, with more than a third of cases hitting women over the age of 70.

Treatment for virtually all patients should start with an operation to remove the tumour – yet women in their 70s, 80s and 90s are being denied the procedure.

Experts warned that doctors are concerned elderly women might not cope with the treatment – but they are not being properly assessed to make sure that is the case.

Older women are also missing out on chemotherapy for the same reason, they said.

The National Audit of Breast Cancer in Older Patients, published for the first time today by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Association of Breast Surgery, found the chance of receiving breast cancer surgery fall rapidly with age.

The audit, which surveyed 142 NHS breast cancer units in England and Wales, found 90 per cent of breast cancer patients aged 50 to 69 receive surgery.

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But that rate falls to 85 per cent between the age of 70 and 74, 75 per cent for 75 to 79-year-olds, below 60 per cent between the age of 80 and 84, and below 40 per cent for over 85s.

Women in their 90s have just a 15 per cent chance of receiving surgery, the auditors found.

The authors wrote: ‘There is evidence that older patients are experiencing inequalities in access to cancer services and treatments, which may be having a negative impact on their survival.

Medical auditors say there is evidence that NHS guidelines, which state that women with early invasive breast cancer should be offered surgery irrespective of age, are not being followed

‘There are differences in tumour characteristics associated with age that may impact on survival in older women but this does not account for all of the observed disparities.’

NHS guidelines say women with early invasive breast cancer, irrespective of age, should be offered surgery, radiotherapy and appropriate therapy, unless other illnesses intervene.

But the auditors said: ‘There is evidence that these recommendations are not being followed.’

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at the Breast Cancer Now charity, said: ‘We’ve been extremely concerned for some time that older breast cancer patients may not be receiving the best treatment for them, with assumptions wrongly being made about their suitability for therapy because of their age.

‘This crucial audit represents a major step towards putting this unjust inequality right.

‘Significant variation in care levels persists, and the report’s discovery that older women are less involved in decision-making on their care is incredibly worrying.

‘It’s imperative that breast cancer units across the country now tackle this issue, exploring how specialists in delivering older patient care could be involved to enable all patients to participate in their own treatment planning.’