Study: Surgery Appropriate for Rectal Cancer Patients Over Age 80

A new French study has concluded that patients with rectal cancer should not be restricted from having surgery just because of their age, even though the surgical risk is slightly greater.

The researchers compared outcomes between 1980 and 1998 for 92 rectal cancer patients over the age of 80 and 276 patients under the age of 80.

They reported in the American Journal of Surgery that the operative mortality rate was 8 percent for the older patients compared to 4 percent for patients under age 80.

But they said that of the patients who had rectal cancer surgery, the cancer-specific 5-year survival rate was 50 percent for the older patients and 59 percent for the younger patients.

"The prognosis for rectal cancer in patients over 80 years is not significantly different from that of younger patients," the researchers concluded. "Surgery should not be restricted on the basis of age."

Other Sources: American Journal of Surgery