Multidisciplinary Geriatric Oncology Improves Breast Cancer Care: Enrique Soto Perez de Celis, MD

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Breast cancer care increasingly requires coordination among medical oncologists, primary care providers, pharmacists, and geriatric specialists, especially for older patients.

Thus, the need for multidisciplinary care to help clinicians deliver quality care for patients with breast cancer as they age. The University of Colorado Anschutz recently launched the first Geriatric Oncology Clinic in the state of Colorado, which has expanded access to specialty physicians and helps preserve patients’ quality of life while managing treatment, Enrique Soto Perez de Celis, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and medical oncology at the University of Colorado Anschutz, said in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^®.

He continued to emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary care, especially for older patients, as they tend to accumulate more conditions that can’t all be managed by one physician. He also mentioned that multidisciplinary care helps to coordinate care and treatment plans across a care team to best optimize patient outcomes.

Older adults’ preferred outcomes vary, wanting to live as long as possible and maintaining their independence and quality of life, and it’s important for doctors to tailor treatment strategies and care plans to accommodate patients’ wants, Soto said.

“The only way in which we can know what that person in front of us values is by asking and by trying to understand their circumstances, their preferences, et cetera,” he said. “And that may mean choosing one treatment over the other if we believe that fits our patient's preference the best and making these trade-offs.”

Sometimes patients would prefer a less aggressive treatment even though it might not be as efficacious as other treatments, but it’s better because it’s less burdensome. Other times, patients may want to live longer, if not to see a family milestone or celebration, Soto explained.

“The only way in which we can know what's important for people is asking them, and that does not necessarily match what we look for in clinical trials,” he said.