Professor Balducci summed up the major conclusions from the "Managing elderly haematological oncology patients: conclusions" session: 1) Age is a physiological factor which should guide treatment options. 2) Co-morbidity and function should be integrated to assess risk of complications in chemotherapy. 3) Co-operation between the geriatrician and the oncologist is essential in assessing the patient and establishing the best treatment.

Dr Cherubini commented that of course screening the patient is a very important part of the assessment but patient management is more important. The issue of polypharmacy is also crucial, for example 15% of patients go to hospital because of toxic side-effects from their treament. He also emphasised the importance of a comprehensive geriatric assessment in order to improve patient outcome.

At this point Professor Balducci asked the question "do we need a molecular profile of the tumour in elderly patients as in younger patients to decide treatment?". When offering new medications it is important to consider the benefit-to-risk ratio for the patient. It's essential to define a correct balance. He went on to stress the need for a comprehensive patient database cataloguing all the various treatment combinations with accurate long-term patient follow up. This would allow evidence based treatment protocols for future patients.

Finally Dr Cherubini brought up the the fact that the EU have proposed that 2012 be designated as the "European Year for Active Ageing". This initiative involves creating more opportunities for older people to continue working, to stay healthy longer and to continue to contribute to society. However Dr Cherubini commented that if we cannot guarantee better treatment for chronic diseases then how can we achieve active ageing?