[Changes and Advances in Cancer Surgery for Elderly People Aged 85 and Over in the Past 10 Years]

Even in our city with a population of approximately 2.3 million, the aging of the population is progressing. Consequently, the number of scheduled cancer surgeries performed at our hospital for patients aged 85 years and older has increased by approximately 1.5 times over the past 10 years. Furthermore, there has been a rise in the number of patients requiring full assistance with eating and walking, necessitating highly invasive surgical procedures in some cases. In this study, we performed statistical analysis of surgeries performed on patients aged 85 years and older a 10-year period, analyzing trends in the number of surgeries and outcomes. The introduction of minimally invasive surgery has been associated with a tendency towards improved ADL at discharge, increased rates of discharge to home, and decreased rates of mortality at discharge. Patients with poor preoperative ADL, particularly those requiring full assistance with eating and walking, exhibited a poor prognosis, suggesting the importance of perioperative systemic management in conjunction with cancer treatment. While the increase in the number of surgeons and nurses has been adequate to address the initial impact of the aging population, further increases in other allied health professional positions are necessary to prevent the burden on surgeons and nurses in response to the anticipated acceleration of population aging.