Aim: To evaluate short-term outcomes of laparoscopy-assisted colectomy (LAC) in elderly patients with colorectal carcinoma.
Methods: A total of 289 colorectal cancer patients underwent LAC between 2008 and 2013. They were divided into an elderly group (<80 years of age, group E), and a younger group (<80 years of age, group Y). The treatment results, including the surgery-related factors, the perioperative course, and the pre- and postoperative complications, were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: There were 49 patients in group E, and 240 patients in group Y. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups considering the operative time, blood loss, rate of transfusion, post-operative hospital stay, rate of conversion to open surgery, or rate of complications, except for the number of patients with an ASA classification of greater than Grade 2 and the degree of lymph node dissection.
Conclusions: LAC in elderly patients was found to be relatively safe because it was associated with a reduction in damage to the abdominal wall, and with an early recovery from surgery. These results suggest that the indications of LAC could be expanded for elderly patients.