Background: The aim of the current study was to investigate survival after resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) in octogenarians. The survival of octogenarian patients was compared to the survival of the national population of octogenarians and the survival of sexagenarians, the latter representing the average-age patient undergoing resection of CLM.
Methods: Octogenarian and sexagenarian were defined as person 80-89 and 60-69 years of age, respectively. Survival analyses of patients who underwent resection of CLM between 2002 and 2014 were performed. Data from Statistics Norway were used to estimate the survival of the age-matched national population of octogenarians (ageM-Octo) and the age-matched national population of sexagenarians (ageM-Sexa).
Results: During the study period, 59 octogenarians underwent resection of CLM. The majority of patients underwent a minor liver resection (n=50). In octogenarians, the 5-year survival was 32.5% and 66.3% [difference, 33.8 percentage points (pp)] in patients and ageM-Octo, respectively. The 10-year survival was 14.1% and 31.2% (difference, 17.1 pp) in patients and ageM-Octo, respectively. In sexagenarians, the 5-year survival was 50.9% and 96.2% (difference, 45.3 pp) in patients and ageM-Sexa, respectively. The 10-year survival was 35.7% and 90.3% (difference, 54.6 pp) in patients and ageM-Sexa, respectively. The 5-year cancer-specific survival and 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) after resection of CLM in octogenarians were 43.1% and 32.9%, respectively.
Conclusions: After resection of CLM, the survival was poorer in octogenarians than in sexagenarians. However, the difference between the survival curves of patients and their age-matched population was smaller in octogenarians. In practice, this finding may indicate a greater benefit of resection in the elderly than the survival rates alone would suggest.
Keywords: Liver resection; colorectal liver metastases (CLM); elderly; octogenarians; survival.