Short- and long-term outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy in elderly patients with periampullary cancer

PURPOSE: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is recently performed in older cancer patients. The complication rate of PD is high. The present study was to compare the postoperative short- and long-term outcomes of PD in between older patients and younger patients. METHODS: Between 2000 and 2014, patients who underwent PD due to periampullary cancers were enrolled. Patients aged 75 years or over were included in the older group. RESULTS: Total 1,249 patients were enrolled in this study and 168 patients (13.5%) were included in the older group. Postoperative complication rates, duration of postoperative hospital stay, and 30-day mortality were comparable between the 2 groups, although the admission rate of intensive care unit postoperatively was higher in the older adult group (20.8% vs. 10.5%, P < 0.001). In terms of long-term outcomes, 5-year overall survival rate was lower in the older group (23.4% vs. 41.8%, P < 0.001), and 5-year cumulative recurrence rate was higher in the older group without statistical significance (63.9% vs. 57.9%, P = 0.095). However, there were no statistical differences of cumulative recurrence in pancreatic cancer patients (81.5% vs. 82.5%, P = 0.805). CONCLUSION: PD for periampullary cancer is a safe and feasible treatment in the older patients. The treatment modality for obtaining better survival outcomes will be investigated.