OBJECTIVE: To identify and describe the therapeutic itinerary of elderly patients with cancer treated in outpatient services and hosted in support homes, in the city of Curitiba, state of Paraná. METHODS: It was performed a qualitative research with an approach based on the method of Oral History Theme (HOT). Five interviews were held with elders who were in treatment for cancer. The analysis of the stories was made by means of the specific technique of HOT. RESULTS: It was found five main tones and a central theme. CONCLUSION: The stories analysis showed the path the elders must follow in the subsystems of health care. Therapeutic itinerary of the elderly with cancer was surrounded by doubts, pain, hopes and sadness. Hope in the family and God were the guarantees to overcome the disease. The nurse must know the therapeutic itinerary followed by the elderly to plan the appropriate care, within the social-cultural reality in which subsystems act in health care.
Aged; Neoplasms; Oncology nursing