Morbidity and mortality of surgery for endometrial cancer in the oldest old

OBJECTIVE: Although endometrial cancer commonly occurs in elderly women, little is known about the perioperative outcomes of the oldest women (>80 years of age) who are treated surgically. STUDY DESIGN: We performed an analysis of women >= 65 years of age with endometrial cancer who underwent hysterectomy from 19982007 and who were registered in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. RESULTS: A total of 25,698 women were identified. Compared with women who were 65-69 years old, women who were >= 85 years old were more likely to have perioperative surgical complications (12% vs 17%), postoperative medical complications (24% vs 34%), and a longer length of stay (3 vs 5 days) and to require a transfusion (6% vs 10%; P < .05 for all). The perioperative mortality rate was 0.4% in women who were 65-69 years old compared with 1.6% in women who were >= 85 years old (P < .0001). CONCLUSION: The morbidity that is associated with surgery for endometrial cancer is significantly higher in women who are >80 years old, even after medical comorbidities have been considered.