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


METHODS
Between 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.


RESULTS
Significant 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).


CONCLUSIONS
This 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.
Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sung-Il
SI
Cho
You-Jin
YJ
Jang
Jong-Han
JH
Kim
Sung-Soo
SS
Park
Seong-Heum
SH
Park
Seung-Joo
SJ
Kim
Chong-Suk
CS
Kim
Young-Jae
YJ
Mok