Clinicopathological Study on Colorectal Cancer of Patients Over 80 Years of Age

Yoshihiro Nishida, Mitsuharu Nakamoto, Tomoaki Urakawa

Department of Surgery, Kobe Rosai Hospital of the Labour Welfare Corporation

Among 120 patients who received a resection for colorectal cancer in our department from January 1985 to December 1989, we selected 21 elderly patients (17.5%) aged 80 or above (elderly group), whom we thought to be most characteristic of the elderly, and clinicopathologically compared them with patients aged 79 or below (control group). The elderly group demonstrated the following tendency, (1) a higher rate of lung disease requiring treatment as well as abnormality in the circulatory system, respiratory system, and total protein amount (p<0.05), (2) higher incidence in the right colon, (3) a higher rate of ss-al (61.9%) in the depth of wall invasion, (4) a lower rate of v0 (29.4%) in vascular invasion (p<0.05), (5) a higher rate of lymph node metastasis above n2 (23.5%), (6) a lower rate of stage I, a higher rate of both stage IV and V, and therefore more advanced cases, (7) almost the same rate of curative resection (71.4%), (8) a higher rate of postoperative complications (42.9%) and operative deaths (4.8%). Thus in the elderly, postoperative complications directly lead to death, so it is necessary to carry out pre- and postoperative management with great care.

Key words
colorectal cancer of the elderly, clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer

Reprint requests
Yoshihiro Nishida Department of Surgery, Kobe Rosai Hospital, of the Labour Welfare Corporation
4-1-23 Kagoike-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 651 JAPAN

Accepted
March 13, 1991

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