1988 Volume 49 Issue 8 Pages 1347-1351
The clinical records of patients over 80 years old with gastric cancer were reviewed.
One hundred patients were operated on: 78 for advanced cancerand 22 for early cancer. Ninety-five (95%) had resections. Of these 28 underwent a curative operation. Eleven (11%) all with advanced cancer died due to post-operative complications, most of which were suture line failures and pulmonary complications.
These patients were compared with 66 gastric cancer patients treated without surgical precedures because of multiple associated diseases, advanced age or refusal of operation. Of these, 55 (83%) died in association with cancer. Sixty-four percent (14/22) of the non-operated patients with early cancer eventually died of tumor growth.
Our data suggest that surgical operation may be of great value in treating patients over 80 years with advanced cancer as well as those with early cancer.
