title: Laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer improves short-term outcomes in very elderly colorectal cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopic-assisted colectomy (LAC) for colorectal cancer has been shown to improve short-term outcomes compared with open colectomy (OC) in colorectal cancer patients. However, there are a few reports that describe the efficacy of LAC in the very elderly population. We investigated whether LAC improves short-term outcomes in elderly patients, especially those 80 years of age or older.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-two consecutive elderly (80 years of age or older) patients who underwent either OC or LAC for colorectal cancer were reviewed. Continuous variables were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical variables were compared by χ tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 82 elderly patients with colorectal cancer, 34 patients underwent OC and 48 patients had LAC. There were no significant differences in postoperative complications between the 2 groups. LAC demonstrated less blood loss, fewer days on a liquid diet, and a shorter postoperative stay in the hospital than OC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LAC improved short-term outcomes even in very elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Digestive Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Yasutoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shiozaki
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuriu
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikoma
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: Yukihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kokuba
authors.forename: Eigo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otsuji
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D003082:Colectomy / Q000379:methods*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D016896:Treatment Outcome