title: Outcome of Gastric Cancer Surgery in Elderly Patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Owing to increased life expectancy, the number of elderly patients with gastric cancer has increased. This study aimed to identify the outcomes of gastric cancer patients aged 80 years or older through comparison of their clinicopathological characteristics, surgical outcomes, and oncologic outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2006 and December 2013, the records of 478 patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups: patients <80 years old (n=446) and patients ≥80 years old (n=32).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in sex, body mass index, length of hospital stay, duration of surgery, depth of invasion, nodal metastasis, histologic type, or tumor size between the two groups. However, significant differences were found for the American Society of Anesthesiologist score and the serum albumin level between the two groups. Postoperative morbidity, mortality, disease-free survival, and recurrence rate did not differ between curatively resected patients in the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In elderly patients with gastric cancer, active treatment including radical gastrectomy is necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Min Sung
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Sungsoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Complications; Elderly; Gastrectomy; Stomach neoplasms; Treatment outcome