The treatment team should support the patient to participate in research and clinical trials where available and appropriate. For more information visit the Cancer Australia website.

Planning and delivering appropriate cancer care for older people can present a number of challenges. This could also be true for frail people or those experiencing comorbidities. Effective communication between oncology and geriatrics departments will help facilitate best practice care, which takes into account physiological age, complex comorbidities, risk of adverse events and drug interactions,…

If there is an indication that a patient’s cancer has returned, care should be provided under the guidance of a treating specialist. Each patient should be evaluated to determine if referral to the original multidisciplinary team is necessary. Often referral back to the original multidisciplinary team will not be necessary unless there are obvious aspects…

Patient performance status is a central factor in cancer care and should be clearly documented in the patient’s medical record. Performance status should be measured and recorded using an established scale such as the Karnofsky scale or the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale. Consideration should be given to frailty and the patient’s functional state.…

For any given patient, multiple lines and modalities of treatment might be required.

While the causes of prostate cancer are not fully understood, there are a number of factors associated with an increased risk of developing the disease, which include: increasing age, especially for men aged over 50 years a family history of prostate cancer having certain germline mutations, for example in the BRCA2 gene, or particular genetic…

Everyone should be encouraged to reduce their modifiable risk factors, including taking the following steps.

To help patients decide whether to have a prostate biopsy, discuss with them their PSA level, DRE findings (including an estimate of prostate size) and comorbidities, together with their risk factors (including family history, increasing age and family origin) and any history of previously negative prostate biopsies. Do not automatically offer a prostate biopsy on…