Nagpur: Getting old is a heterogeneous process that involves all organs and systems.
Elderly people are more likely to have chronic health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.
Hence, cancer treatment becomes challenging.
But it helps people at any age.The story of Gulabrao Raut, a former government servant, will encourage many geriatric cancer patients to fight and win.Raut was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2015 when he was 75 years old.
He underwent a surgery but could not bear the adjuvant cobalt adiotherapy and discontinued the treatment.
Five years later, the cancer reoccurred and this time, it was not less than a nightmare for an 80-year-old man.“Nowadays, we conduct Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA), a multidimensional holistic assessment that takes into consideration health and well-being of a geriatric patient.
This helps us a lot in deciding the treatment module,” said Dr Ashish Bhange, radiation oncologist who treated the patient.“We decided to avoid surgery and planned for Radical Radiation therapy (RT).
Past experience of this was bad for the patient.
After four weeks, he started experiencing similar problems and it became challenging for us to convince him to continue further radiology cycles,” Dr Bhange said.The doctor used adaptive image guided radiotherapy taking into consideration acute toxicities and tumour response.
Psychological breakdown was taken care with a series of counselling sessions.
With all the emphasized care, Raut managed to complete the treatment.“All credit goes to the doctors who kept motivating me.
After 3 months, my cancer was fully cured.
My lost hopes turned into a golden memory of fight with cancer.
I think we can defeat cancer even at old age,” said Raut.Doctors told TOI that geriatric cancer care is challenging.
A more emphasized treatment, with the use of technological advances and supportive care, can win the battle with more efficiency.“Today, the old gentleman walks in at the OPD with a smile.
He is cancer-free.
He has written a two-page letter to acknowledge our efforts.
I have displayed it in the OPD to motivate other patients,” Dr Bhange added.