ROBOTIC SURGERY IN ELDERY PATIENTS laura9.fortuna@gmail.com

 

ROBOTIC SURGERY IN ELDERY PATIENTS

4

Italy

Oral or Poster

Gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death globally and the incidence has gradually increased in patients aged 65 and older. The elderly compared to younger, are usually considered as "fragile", thus having a greater risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Minimally invasive surgery, especially the robotic approach, has been shown to be better tolerated.

This project aims to evaluate the potential benefits and limits of a robotic surgery in a group of elderly patients, comparing short clinical outcomes with a group of younger patients. This is a retrospective observational study concerning all consecutive patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer at the Digestive Surgery Unit (Careggi University Hospital). The data collected allowed the cohort to be divided into two groups based on age: elderly≥ 75 years old and patients no-elderly <75 years old.

Between January 2016 and March 2022, 143 patients were included in the study (64 patients were included in the elderly group and 79 in the non-elderly group). Comorbidities were present in 95.3% of patients in the elderly and 81% of patients in the non-elderly (p=0.011). Moreover, there was no significant difference about the incidences of severe complications separately (p=0.252) and the difference in the length of hospital stay between the two groups. The 30-day mortality rate was 1.6%: no cases of death were registered in the non-elderly.

According to our data, we can assert that robotic surgery for gastric cancer is safe and feasible in elderly patients and seems to improve postoperative outcomes.