Differential short-term outcomes of laparoscopic resection in colon and rectal cancer patients aged 80 and older: an analysis of Nationwide Inpatient Sample

Background Approximately, 22.6% of colorectal cancer surgeries were performed on patients aged 80 or over. The present study aimed to evaluate the use of laparoscopic resection and its short-term surgical outcomes in patients who were aged 80 and older and diagnosed with colon cancer or rectal cancer in parallel. Methods In this retrospective population-based study, colon and rectal cancer patients >= 80 years undergoing laparoscopic resection or open resection were identified from the United States National Inpatient Sample (2005-2014). Primary outcomes were postoperative complication and in-hospital mortality. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the short-term effectiveness of laparoscopic and open resection. Results In this study, 40,451 colon cancer patients and 1117 rectal cancer patients were included. Multivariate analysis revealed that laparoscopic resection was significantly associated with lower risks for developing postoperative complications (aOR = 0.67; 95%, CI 0.64-0.71) and in-hospital mortality (aOR = 0.37; 95% CI 0.32-0.43) compared to open resection in colon cancer patients. For rectal cancer patients, multivariate analysis indicated that laparoscopic resection was significantly associated with a lower risk of developing postoperative complications (aOR = 0.41; 95% CI 0.32-0.52) but was not associated with in-hospital mortality. Conclusion Compared to open resection, laparoscopic resection has better or similar short-term surgical outcomes in colon and rectal cancer patients >= 80 years.

Automated summary

This study found that laparoscopic resection has better or similar short-term surgical outcomes compared to open resection in colon and rectal cancer patients aged 80 years and older.