Oxygen Therapy and Ventilatory Approach in Elderly Cancer Patients: Key Practice Recommendations

As part of the aging process, lungs undergo modifications and changes at both the structural and functional levels. Oncological illnesses imply the avoidance of hypoxemia, without reaching hyperoxia. There are toxic effects and damage from the positive pressure so as from high inspired oxygen fractions. Even moreso, it causes cardiovascular side effects. Thus, in critically ill patients, it allows permissive hypoxemia, side effects that are more evident in the elderly. The origin of respiratory failure in cancer patients involves the same mechanisms as in the rest of the population. An elderly oncology patient is usually one for whom oxygen therapy is necessary, due to either a more acute chronic illness process, or chronic lung changes that lead to lesser oxygenation requirements.