Nicolò Matteo Luca Battisti, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, shared on LinkedIn:
“Heading to Madrid for ESMO26 with the older patient in mind. The regular abstracts are out and, looking across tumour types, three themes stand out for geriatric oncology this year.
- Doing less, safely. MOIO (LBA10, Presidential Symposium III, Monday) tests immune checkpoint inhibitors every three months in responding patients, a de-escalation question that matters most for those with the least reserve. TOP-1 (545RO) reports five-year results of omitting radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in systemically untreated older women with ER-positive disease, and LOMAC (LBA81) asks whether four months of adjuvant XELOX is enough in gastric cancer.
- Duration and schedule of endocrine therapy. The final analysis of NSABP B-42 (LBA24) on extended letrozole and the final GIM3 FATA results (544RO) on aromatase inhibitor schedule speak directly to the ten-year decisions we make with postmenopausal and older women.
- Evidence in the patients we actually treat. EV-302 in older and comorbid patients (4761P), the DEWI cohort of patients over 70 unfit for surgery (2877RO), the KEYNOTE-C93 chemotherapy-free question in dMMR endometrial cancer (LBA12) and the grey-zones session on elderly and frail patients on Saturday.
Still no dedicated older-adults session in the programme that I could find. Which presentation will change how you treat your older patients?”
From the congress floor to key insights, follow ESMO 2026 with OncoDaily.