Comparison of surgical outcomes of gastric cancer in elderly and middle-aged patients.
BACKGROUND
We compared clinicopathological features and results of surgery for gastric carcinoma in elderly and middle-aged patients to develop appropriate treatment for elderly patients with gastric carcinoma.


METHODS
Surgical results were assessed for 135 elderly patients (over 75 years old) and 665 middle-aged patients (between 45 and 65 years old) with gastric cancer.


RESULTS
Distinct characteristics of elderly patients were male predominance; macroscopically well, or ill-defined, histologically differentiated tumors; and advanced stage disease. There was a significant difference in overall survival between the groups for early stage carcinomas but no difference in cause-specific survival. Postoperative morbidities did not differ between the curatively resected patients in the 2 groups. Moreover, deaths from other cancers or comorbid disease were frequent among the elderly.


CONCLUSIONS
Meticulous treatment and follow-up not only for gastric carcinoma but also for other diseases would improve survival in elderly patients, particularly those with early-stage tumors.
Kunisaki
Chikara
C
Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Yokohama City University, Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-0004, Japan. s0714@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
Akiyama
Hirotoshi
H
Nomura
Masato
M
Matsuda
Goro
G
Otsuka
Yuichi
Y
Ono
Hidetaka Andrew
HA
Shimada
Hiroshi
H
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome