Clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer in the elderly

The clinicopathological features of 380 elderly patients 70 years of age or older with gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively from hospital records between 1969 and 1993. They were then compared with 1134 middle-aged patients between 40 and 69 years. The elderly constituted 18.4% of all gastric cancer patients 20 years ago but now comprise 24.4% of all patients in the most recent decade, despite the overall decrease in the rate of gastric cancer. The distinguishing histological features of gastric cancer in the elderly were an intestinal type of cancer, expansive tumour growth and synchronous multiplicity of the lesions. Elderly patients had a similar rate of tumour extension but had poorer survival as compared with the middle-aged patients. Post-operative death within 30 days after surgery was also higher in the elderly than in the middle-aged patients.