Limitations of performance status assessment in elderly with acute myeloid leukemia

lderly patients present clinical and functional heterogeneity. hus the chronological age (60 years and older) alone does not haracterize this group of individuals correctly. Performance tatus scales such as the Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS)1 r Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group Scale (ECOG),2 are sed by hematologists in decision making for elderly patients ith cancer. Good performance status is defined as a KPS qual to or greater than 80% or an ECOG less than 2. These cores are one of the criteria utilized to choose the treatment trategy for elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia AML). AML is more frequent in the aged. Considering the igh risk of toxicity during AML treatment in elderly patients, any researchers have recommended the application of geritric instruments at baseline and in the follow up of these ndividuals. The objective of this paper is to improve the nderstanding of how geriatric approaches may benefit the erformance status assessment of elderly patients with AML.