Outcomes of Distal Gastrectomy for Elderly Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer: Comparison With Non-Elderly Patients and the Utility of Laparoscopic Distal Gastrectomy for Elderly Patients

As the elderly population increases, cases of elderly advanced gastric cancer (AGC) also increase. This study aims to investigate the safety and utility of curative gastrectomy, as well as the efficacy of laparoscopic gastrectomy, for these elderly patients. We retrospectively analyzed the surgical outcomes of patients with cStage IB-III AGC who underwent distal gastrectomy (DG) with D2 lymph node dissection in our institution. We compared the results between elderly patients (>75 years) and non-elderly patients (<75 years). We further divided the elderly patients into 2 groups: those who underwent laparoscopic DG (LDG) and those who underwent open DG (ODG). Further, we compared the results of the 2 groups. From January 2014 to March 2019, 84 patients underwent DG with D2 lymph node dissection for cStage IB-III AGC (52 elderly patients and 32 non-elderly patients). ASA was significantly higher in elderly patients; however, there was no significant difference in surgical outcomes nor in overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) between the 2 groups. Among 52 elderly patients, 19 had LDG, whereas 33 had ODG. The LDG group had a significantly shorter length of hospital stay and a significantly less amount of blood loss. There was no significant difference in RFS and OS between these 2 groups. Safety and oncologic curability may be achieved in elderly patients with AGC. LDG may be safely performed as ODG in elderly patients with AGC and it is expected to benefit them by achieving minimally invasive surgery.