Surgical and survival outcomes of laparoscopic colectomy for trans-verse colon cancer in elderly patients.

PURPOSE

This study was designed to compare the survival and surgical outcomes of laparoscopic colectomy (LC) in elderly and non-elderly patients with transverse colon cancer (TCC).

METHODS

From January 2011 to January 2018, 44 elderly (aged ≥70 years) and 72 non-elderly (aged <70 years) patients with TCC underwent LC at our institution. The survival and surgical outcomes of the two groups were compared retrospectively.

RESULTS

Preoperatively, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and American Society of Anesthesiologists score were higher in the elderly group than in the non-elderly group. There were no significant differences between the groups in operating time, intraoperative blood loss, conversion rate, pathologic data, 30-day postoperative mortality rate, incidence of 30-day postoperative complications, incidence of major complications, or compliance with adjuvant chemotherapy. During the follow-up period, differences in recurrence rate, 5-year overall survival (OS) rate, and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate between the groups were not significant.

CONCLUSION

Although elderly patients with TCC have higher surgical risk than non-elderly patients, performing LC in elderly patients is safe and effective. The survival and surgical outcomes in elderly patients were similar to those in non-elderly patients.