Special situations

Before starting any cancer treatment, a complete assessment of the patient is always necessary to decide the best treatment, depending on the situation with the oncological disease, but also that of the patient. Some common examples to consider are:  

• Other chronic diseases (e.g., ischaemic heart disease, COPD or kidney failure): Patients with heart, lung or kidney disease may have contraindications to receiving standard chemotherapy treatments, or may require dose reductions to tolerate it appropriately.  
• Elderly: Clinical studies show that patients older than 75 years are more likely to suffer toxicities or serious side effects in standard cancer treatments. As a result, diagnostic tools have been developed that classify patients over 75 years of age into different groups based on this risk, which helps the medical team tailor the best chemotherapy treatment according to its risk-benefit ratio.  
• Pregnancy: Some chemotherapies may be contraindicated in a particular trimester or throughout the pregnancy.