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.