[On the problems of geriatric carcinomas (author's transl)].

Generally the cancer of the rectum is one besides several other diseases of the patient; clinically it recedes often far into the background of the actual happening. With increasing age the real geriatric diseases come to the foreground of the clinical findings dominated by the arteriosclerosis in all its variations. Therefore the treatment has to take into account the true secondary diseases besides the cancer. Judging the progress of the illness and the therapeutic effect these facts must be considered. Due to the intanglement of geriatric and oncological symptoms it is impossible to separate geriatrics from oncology. Concerning these connections it seems to be justified to characterize the rectum cancer--and also some other cancers--as a particularly geriatric one. The practical consequence of this hypothesis is a change of therapeutic planning, coordinating oncological and geriatric points of view according to the respective requirements. At this psychological and social-medical problems have to be taken into consideration.