Abstract
Postoperative complications and survival rates of 107 patients over 70 years old, who underwent surgery for gastric cancer, were analyzed. The anastomotic leakage and pulmonary complications more frequently occurred than other age groups. Approximately a half of those patients died of either of the two complications. The data of preoperative laboratory examinations, preoperative complications, age of patients, Stages of the disease and types of operation were not related with the occurrence of postoperative complications. Postoperative complications did not influence the postoperative survival rate. Seven patients died of postoperative complications. All of them had a Stage IV disease. Survival rates of Stage IV patients in an early postoperative period were different, dipending on the presence or absence of postoperative complications. However, this difference disappeared in four months after surgery due to early recurrence death of Stage IV patients. It was found that prediction of postoperative complications from routine labolatory data was difficult in the aged patients with gastric cancer, and that postoperative complications in Stage IV were related with higher mortality. Therefore, special care has to be taken in treating aged patients with Stage IV gastric cancer, to prevent postoperative complications.
