Significance of radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in patients over 80 years old.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in elderly patients.


METHODS
This study included 72 patients aged > or =80 years (group A) who underwent radical cystectomy and urinary diversion between January 1995 and December 2003, and the clinical outcome of these patients were compared with those of 557 patients aged <80 years (group B) undergoing radical cystectomy during the same period as group A.


RESULTS
As the procedure for urinary diversion, ureterocutaneostomy was most frequently performed in group A (87.5%), while neobladder creation was most common in group B (43.8%). Despite the absence of significant differences in tumor grade and incidence of lymph node metastasis between these two groups, pathological stage in group A was significantly greater than that in group B. The perioperative mortality rate in group A was significantly higher than that in group B, whereas the incidences of both early and late postoperative complications in group A were similar to those in group B. Cancer-specific survival in group A was significantly lower than that in group B; however, among patients with disease < or =pT2, there was no significant difference in cancer-specific survival between these two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that an aggressive surgical approach may be an optimal therapeutic strategy for properly selected elderly patients who require definitive therapy for locally invasive bladder cancer, particularly in those with disease < or =pT2.
Yamanaka
Kazuki
K
Division of Urology, Kobe University Graduate School of medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Miyake
Hideaki
H
Hara
Isao
I
Inoue
Taka-aki
TA
Fujisawa
Masato
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*