Surgical treatment for esophageal cancer in elderly patients over 75 years of age

UNLABELLED: We performed 127 esophageal resections for the esophageal cancer patient from December 1995 to September 2001. It was separated to under 70 years old patients group (group I), 71-74 years old patients group (group II), and over 75 years old patients group (group III). RESULTS: Postoperative complication was occurred in 53 cases (41.7%) within all of 127 esophageal resected cases. It was 33.7% in group I, 53.6% in group II, 62.5% in group III. Four years survival rate of each group is 38.3% in group I, 44.6% in group II, 31.3% in group III. It is significantly better in group II rather than in group III. Operative death rate is 12.5% (2 cases) in group III, 7.1% (2 cases) in group II, 3.6% (3 cases) in group I, and it is gradually higher and higher by patient's age. CONCLUSIONS: (1) In the esophageal cancer patient over 75 years old, postoperative complication rate is higher than under 74 years old patients, and prognosis is significantly poor rather than in 70-74 years old patients group. (2) In the esophageal cancer patient over 75 years old, we considered it is good indication of esophagectomy for stage I and stage II patient without preoperative complication, however, there are no operative indication for stage III and stage IV patient.