Gastric carcinoma at Tanta Cancer Center: A comparative retrospective clinico-pathological study of the elderly versus the non-elderly

Background and aims: to study the clinico-pathological features,treatments and outcomes of gastric carcinoma (gc) in the elderly (≥65. years) and the non-elderly egyptian patients. methods: this retrospective cohort study included 168 patients with histologically confirmed gc treated at tanta cancer center between 2003 and 2007. results: compared to the non-elderly,elderly patients had significantly higher proportion of tumors involving the cardia (p=0.034) and of adenocarcinoma nos histology (p=0.032). treatments were largely comparable in the two groups. response to palliative chemotherapy was achieved in 44.4% of the elderly and 25.5% of the non-elderly patients (p=0.417). the median overall survival (os),disease-free survival (dfs) and progression-free survival (pfs) were 6,17 and 3. months,respectively. the median os was 4. months in the elderly compared to 9. months in the non-elderly (p=0.005). the median dfs was 4. months in the elderly compared to 20. months in the non-elderly (p=0.004). the median pfs was 2. months in the elderly compared to 3. months in the non-elderly (p=0.685). in multivariate analysis,poor performance status was an independent predictor of poor os,dfs and pfs. non-curative or no surgery and lack of chemotherapy use were independent predictors of poor os. age was an independent predictor of poor dfs. conclusions: compared to the non-elderly,gc in the elderly has similar clinico-pathological characteristics and exhibits comparable outcomes with the same treatment options. treatments should be tailored to each patient. © 2014.