[Age as a prognostic factor following excisional surgery for colorectal cancer]

On a series of 369 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent curative resections at the I Instituto di Clinica Chirurgica della Università "La Sapienza" of Rome between 1960 and 1980, age was related to survival. All patients were followed for a minimum of ten years; 79 of them were aged over 65 years and 290 under at the time of the operation. The survival was correlated to the age and to other prognostic parameters: post surgical stage (TNM UICC classification) degree of differentiation of the tumour (NG--Black classification), degree of lymphocytic infiltration of neoplasm (LI Black classification) as expression of immunological immune-response of the host. Patients less than 65 years old had a better survival than patients greater than = 65 years old (median survival 72 months and 44 months respectively) (p = 0.006). These differences where true in subgroups with stage 2 of disease (p TNM UICC) and a favourable immunological reactivity (LI greater than = 2). These results suggest a possible independent role of age in defining the outcome of patients with colorectal cancer.