Aging over 70 Years Is Not a Decisively Dismal Prognostic Factor in Gastric Cancer Surgery

Abstract

PurposeGastric cancer has a high incidence and mortality rate in Korea. Despite a growing older population and an increase in the number of older patients with gastric cancer, the older patients are not willing to undergo surgery due to their operative risks. Hence, to determine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of gastric cancer surgery for them, we investigate factors influencing the treatment decision.Materials and MethodsBetween January 1996 and December 2005, a total of 1,519 patients were classified into two groups; the younger age group between 41 and 69 years of age, and the older age group of 70 years or older. The analysis conducted included patient characteristics, accompanying disorders, related American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade, pathological characteristics and survival rate for each age group.ResultsSignificant differences were found in the ASA grade (P<0.001) and the number of accompanying disorders (P<0.001) between the two groups. The average length of hospital stay after surgery was 14.5 days in the younger age group, and 13.3 days in the older age group (P=0.065). The average survival time was 47.5 months in the younger age group, and 43.2 months in the older age group (P<0.001).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that there was more number of accompanying disorders with a high surgical risk in the older age group. However, there was no significant difference between the older and younger age groups in terms of the incidence of complications, under the given disease conditions and if proper management was provided.

Perioperative and postoperative morbidity after sacrocolpopexy according to age in Korean women

“…Even the median length of hospital stay was similar in both age groups. As our study does, there has been increasing numbers of reports older patients should not be excluded in any types of surgical indications, not only on gynecologic operation, but also on other surgical parts [ 7 ]. Most of the authors say elderly patients can undergo surgery even in the ninth and tenth decade of their life and the perioperative morbidity and mortality have been decreased during the last decade thanks to the advances in anesthesia and surgical techniques and improvement in perioperative care [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Furthermore, some reports demonstrated no significant difference in the mean hospital stay as our study did [ 11 ]. Although it is for the gynecologic oncological patients, Giannice et al found no correlation between severe comorbidities and median hospital stay [ 7 , 12 ].…”