Abstract:
Objective To analyze the prognostic factors of gastric cancer in elderly patients with gastric cancers, as well as their clinicopathologic characteristcs and the differences among the prognosis of the patients in various age groups.
Methods The clinicopathological characteristcs and prognostic factors of 435 elderly patients with gastric cancer (≥ 65 years), who have undergone radical gastrectomy in the Tianjin Cancer Hospital from July 1996 to July 2006, were analyzed retrospectively.
Results The univariate analysis results revealed that age group, tumor location, type of gastrectomy, resection of the other organs, pathological type, tumor size, T stage, N stage, and clinical stage were associated with the prognosis of gastric cancer in elderly patients. The multivariate analysis results revealed that age group, resection of other organs, and the T and N stage were the independent factors of the prognosis. Contrastive analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics was conducted in the three groups. The result revealed that significant differences exist in the tumor location, type of gastrectomy, tumor size, and postoperative chemotherapy among different age groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, the prognostic factors varied among various age groups.
Conclusion Significant differences were observed in the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic factors among different age groups. Studies on elderly patients with gastric cancers in different age groups are of great importance in the prediction of the prognosis.