Neoplasia and the nonagenarian

The number of nonagenarians living an independent lifestyle is increasing and, with babyboomers growing older in a more healthy manner, is set to rise proportionally. Neoplasticchange increases with age but many cancers in the elderly are occult until a clinicallyimportant event causes rapid decline. Drs Gavin Brigstocke, Moshkan Poormolkara andJonathan Birns set out the social background and illustrate events with a likely case scenario.