Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer in the elderly.

Kim, Eun Ji; Seo, Kyung Won; Yoon, Ki Young

PURPOSE With an increase in life expectancy, more elderly patients are presenting with gastric cancer. As a result it is yet be resolved whether laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy is a suitable treatment for elderly patients with early gastric cancer. This study retrospectively compared surgical outcomes of laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy between elderly and nonelderly patients with gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study group was comprised of 316 patients who underwent laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy between April 2005 and December 2010. Of these patients, 93 patients whose ages were 65 years or more were compared with 223 patients who were younger. RESULTS There were no differences in the short term outcome or minor complication rate between the elderly patients and the nonelderly patients. The hospital stay was significantly longer and the major complication rate was significantly higher for the elderly patients compared with nonelderly patients. CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer in the elderly patients had comparable operation time and blood loss with the nonelderly group. However, the safety and advantage of laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy in the elderly patients need to be further studied in higher volume trials.