1986 Volume 47 Issue 12 Pages 1563-1567
In order to identify the clinical and pathological character of gastric cancer among aged patients, the medical records of 19 patients who were over 80 years old and who had undergone laparotomy were reviewed. These patients had poorer resectability and had cancers which were more advanced when compared with younger people, but an increased number of early cases was also observed. Operative complications were not so frequent, and there were no operative deaths. However, there was a tendency for these patients to develop operative complications more easily when preoperative complications were already present. The prognosis for aged patients undergoing curative resection was satisfactory. The conclusions were therefore as follows: Even in old patients over 80 years old, efforts for early defection should be made and radical resection should be performed. However, when the preoperative conditions are poor, efforts should be made to minimize the degree of surgical intervention.
