Dr Reinhard Stauder speaks about his aims for the upcoming ecancer meeting on haematological cancers in elderly patients, Rome, 18-20th March 2011. This meeting will address the difficulties faced when treating older cancer patients, provide recommendations for best practice and work to define true biological age. Dr Stauder explains the importance of factors such as age adjusted life expectancy and comorbidities and how clinicians can take these factors into account in order to provide patients with truly individualised treatment.