Study: 5-Year Survival Rates for Patients Over Age 80 Encouraging

Patients over age 80 should seriously consider proceeding with colorectal cancer surgery despite their age, according to researchers at the colorectal surgery unit in West Middlesex University Hospital, UK in a study presented to the European School of Oncology's first colorectal cancer conference in London.

Researchers presented data on 276 patients, sixty of them age 80 and older, at the European School of Oncology's first colorectal cancer conference in London.

While 12 percent of patients over age 80 died in the hospital as a result of complications compared with only 4 percent of younger patients, researchers found that if the over-80 patients survived their surgery and were discharged from the hospital, their five year survival rate was about the same as patients in younger age groups.

The researchers concluded that being over age 80 was a risk factor for major complications and death just after surgery, but patients should not be discouraged from surgery based on their age alone, as the long-term outcomes are comparable.

Other sources: Reuters