Objective To assess safety and feasibility of laparoscopic gastrectomy in the elderly with gastric cancer. Methods From January 2010 to September 2014, 146 elderly (age ≥65 years old) patients with gastric cancer underwent radical operations in the Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences and Guangdong General Hospital were collected, then were divided into a laparoscopy-assisted radical gastrectomy (LAG group, n=40) and an open radical gastrectomy (OG group, n=106) according to the operative mode. The differences of intraoperative and postoperative situation, and the postoperative complications were analyzed between the LAG group and the OG group. Results ① The age, gender, body mass index, albumin, ASA grade, tumor location, differentiation degree, TNM stage, radical gastrectomy, and digestive tract anastomosis had no significant differences between the LAG group and the OG group (P>0.05). ② None of the patients died during the operative period and there was no significant difference in the mean number of retrieved lymph nodes between these two groups (P>0.05). In the aspects of the intraoperative blood loss, the first flatus time or the first feeding time, and the postoperative hospitalization stay in the LAG group were significantly less than those in the OG group (P<0.05). For the operative time, the OG group showed a distinctive advantage with a significantdifference than the LAG group (P<0.05). ③ The rate of postoperative complication in the LAG group and OG group was 10.0% (4/40) and 15.1% (16/106) respectively, and the difference was not significant (χ2=0.64, P=0.591), the grade of the Clavien-Dindo complications had no significant difference (χ2=0.63, P=0.592). ④ None of the patients died following operation in the LAG group and one case died in the OG group because of the respiratory and circulatory failure caused by the pulmonary embolism. Conclusion Preliminary results of limited cases in this study show that LAG in the elderly patients with gastric cancer could reduce intraoperative blood loss, shorten the first flatus time or the first feeding time, and postoperative hospitalization stay, could obtain same radical effect without increasing incidence of postoperative complications as compared with OG, so it is safety and feasible.
ObjectiveTo explore the influence of sentinel lymph node (SLN) status on the prognosis of elderly breast cancer patients ≥70 years old, and to screen patients who may be exempted from sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), so as to guide clinical individualized treatment for such patients. MethodsA retrospective analysis was made on 270 breast cancer patients aged ≥70 years old who underwent SLNB in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from 2012 to 2021. The clinicopathological characteristics of the total cases were compared according to the status of SLN. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw the survival curve, and the influence of SLN status on the overall survival (OS) time, local recurrence (LR) and distant metastasis (DM) of patients were analyzed, and used log-rank to compare between groups. At the same time, the patients with hormone receptor (HR) positive were analyzed by subgroup. The differences between groups were compared by single factor χ2 test, and multivariate Cox regression model was used to analyze and determine the factors affecting OS, LR and DM of patients. ResultsThe age of 270 patients ranged from 70 to 95 years, with a median age of 74 years. One hundred and sixty-nine (62.6%) patients’ tumor were T2 stage. Invasive ductal carcinoma accounted for 83.0%, histological gradeⅡ accounted for 74.4%, estrogen receptor positive accounted for 78.1%, progesterone receptor positive accounted for 71.9%, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative accounted for 83.3%. The number of SLNs obtained by SLNB were 1-9, and the median was 3. SLN was negative in 202 cases (74.8%) and positive in 68 cases (25.2%). Thirty-five patients (13.0%) received axillary lymph node dissection. There was no significant difference in LR between the SLN positive group and the SLN negative group (P>0.05), but the SLN negative group had fewer occurrences of DM (P=0.001) and longer OS time (P=0.009) compared to the SLN positive group. The results of univariate and multivariate analysis suggest that the older the patient, the shorter the OS time and the greater the risk of DM. Analysis of HR positive subgroups showed that SLN status did not affect patient survival and prognosis, but age was still associated with poor OS time and DM. ConclusionsFor patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of breast in T1-T2 stage, HR positive, clinical axillary lymph nodes negative, and age ≥70 years old, SLNB may be exempted. According to the patient’s performance or tumor biological characteristics, patients who need systemic adjuvant chemotherapy may still consider SLNB.
Frailty is a syndrome characterized by vulnerability to stressors due to loss of physiological reserve. In recent years, many researches have confirmed that frailty is a risk factor for postoperative complications of cardiac surgery, such as readmission, adverse cardiovascular events, and death in elderly patients. This paper reviews the concept of frailty, the relationship between frailty and cardiac surgery, the frailty assessment and intervention strategy in perioperative period, aimed at providing decision making basis for the risk stratification and perioperative management of cardiac surgery in elderly patients.
Objective To discuss whether age has an influence on short-term effect of intersphincteric resection (ISR) for elderly (≥75 years old) patients with ultra-low rectal or canal cancer or not. Methods From February 2016 to February 2017, 196 patients with ultra-low rectal or canal cancer received ISR in the Gastrointestinal Surgery Center of West China Hospital were eligible to include in this study, then they were divided into ≥75 years old group and <75 years old group according to the patients’ age. The intraoperative index, postoperative index, and complications rate were compared between these two groups. Results There were 113 cases in the ≥75 years old group, 83 cases in the <75 years old group, the baselines such as the gender composition, body mass index, tumor histology type, differentiation degree, tumor size, and distance from the anal margin had no significant differences ( P>0.05), but the preoperative anaesthetized ASA grade, proportions of pulmonary insufficiency, hypoproteinemia, anemia, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiac insufficiency of the ≥75 years old group were significantly higher than those of the <75 years old group (P<0.05). The operative time, intraoperative bleeding, and total complications rate had no differences between these two groups (P>0.05), the first exhaust time, the first eating time, the first defecation time, the first ambulation time, and hospitalization time of the ≥75 years old group were significantly longer than those of the <75 years old group (P=0.023, 0.037, 0.019, 0.020, and 0.012, respectively). There were no significant differences in the incidences of the anastomotic leakage, perianal infection, intestinal obstruction, and wound infection between these two groups (P>0.05). All the 196 patients were followed-up with an average follow-up of 7 months, there were 4 cases of recurrent patients, of which 3 were in the ≥75 years old group and 1 in the <75 years old group; there were 3 cases of death, of which 2 were in the ≥75 years old group and 1 in the <75 years old group. Conclusions Short-term recovery of elderly patients with ultra-low rectal or canal cancer is slower than younger patients because of poor preoperative conditions. ISR surgery is still safe and effective for elderly patients with ultra-low rectal or canal cancer and postoperative complications rate has no obvious increase, but it needs a surgeon’s skilled operation technology and multi-disciplinary team cooperation.
Objective To summarize the selection criteria and clinical application of surgical methods for hip fractures (femoral neck fracture and intertrochanteric fracture) in the elderly. Methods The related literature concerning the surgical methods for femoral neck fracture and intertrochanteric fracture in the elderly at home and abroad was extensively reviewed and summarized. Results Among the elderly patients with femoral neck fracture, the closed reduction and internal fixation or dynamic hip screw (DHS), and total hip arthroplasty are recommended for patients under 65 years old and 65–80 years old respectively and without special surgical contraindication; whereas hemiarthroplasty is recommended for patients with poor physical conditions. Among the patients with intertrochanteric fracture, DHS or the 3rd generation of Gamma nails is recommended for patients with stable fracture while the intramedullary fixation systems (e.g., proximal femoral nail anti-rotation, intertrochanteric antegrade nail) and the extramedullary fixation systems (e.g., proximal femoral locking compression plate and less invasive stabilization system) can be applied to the patients with unstable fracture according to the fracture type and bone conditions. Notably, hip arthroplasty is recommended for elderly patients with comminuted fracture. Conclusion The surgical method and internal fixator should be chosen according to the fracture type and bone condition in the elderly in order to improve the effectiveness and reduce the complication.
Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth dangerous cancer in the world. As the global population ages, the management of elderly patients with EC poses a challenge as they have many aging-associated diseases and physiological changes. In addition, the data on the tolerability of cancer treatment and the use of combined therapies in the patients to guide their treatment are limited. In this paper, we reviewed the literatures and discussed the effect of surgical resection and the potential complications of elderly patients. We reviewed the basic principles of combined therapy and the potential benefits of chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for patients and focused on the management of elderly patients with EC as well as the role of comprehensive assessment for aging to provide treatment options for elderly patients.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the status of alexithymia in the Chinese elderly.MethodsCNKI, VIP, CBM, WanFang Data, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and The Cochrane Library databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies related to the epidemiological characteristics of alexithymia among the elderly in China from inception to February 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; meta-analysis was then performed using Stata 16.0 software.ResultsA total of 11 cross-sectional studies involving 3 592 elderly individuals were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of alexithymia in the Chinese elderly was 36% (95%CI 30% to 42%), and the score of alexithymia was 58.59 (95%CI 54.60 to 62.57). Subgroup analyses indicated that the prevalence of alexithymia was 39% (95%CI 32% to 45%) in northern China, 33% (95%CI 30% to 37%) in northeast China, 36% (95%CI 31% to 41%) in eastern China, 51% (95%CI 44% to 58%) in central China, and 20% (95%CI 16% to 24%) in the southwest China. The prevalence rates of hospitalized, nursing home, and community elderly were 42% (95%CI 34% to 49%), 37% (95%CI 28% to 45%), and 29% (95%CI 20% to 38%), respectively. The scores of alexithymia were higher among the elderly males, 80 years or older, engaged in heavy physical work prior to retirement, suffering from severer chronic diseases, low education background, low monthly income, living alone, and low frequency of participation in group activities and visited by relatives.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that the overall prevalence of alexithymia is high in the Chinese elderly, and varies with regions. The levels of alexithymia among gender, age, occupation prior to retirement, number of chronic diseases, educational level, monthly income, habitation manner, the frequency of participating in group activities, and being visited by relatives and friends are different.
Objective To analyze the advancement and trends of English literature on elderly integrated care, and provide a reference for related research and practice in China. Methods Web of Science database was searched for English literature on elderly integrated care published between 1977 and 2000, and then CiteSpace software was applied to analyze and graphically present the articles to understand the chronological development, publishing institutions, research hotspots, key articles and so on. Results A total of 1177 English research papers on elderly integrated care were included. The yearly quantity of articles increased significantly since 2016. More than 100 articles had origin in the Unite State of America, the Netherland, the United Kingdom, and Canada, respectively; the organizations of those researches were mainly single programs, and the research fields were relatively scattered. The high-frequency keywords of these articles were health care, quality of life, primary care, home care, community, chronic disease, long term care, mental health, etc, and the burst terms were long term care, case management, quality of life, community, rehabilitation, telehealth, all inclusive care, etc. According to the centrality of co-citation clustering, the top one article was World Report on Ageing and Health published by the World Health Organization. Conclusions Elderly integrated care has been paid increasing international attention. In recent years, integrated care, transitional care, case management and telecare have become research hotspots. With the key policies of people-centred and integrated health services, primary care, and community-level interventions, typical countries have developed basic models of elderly integrated care. The above theories and experiences can provide references for the practice of elderly integrated care in China.
Objective To explore the effect of antihypertensive treatment on target-organ damage in very elderly patients (gt;80 years). Methods One hundred and sixty-seven very elderly hypertensive patients were randomized into two groups, i.e. anti-hypertension treatment group and placebo-control group. All the patients received echocardiographic examination of left ventricular mass index, laboratory tests of urinary creatinine and urinary albumin and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring 2 months after placebo washout period and at the end of the one year treatment, respectively. Results After treatment, the improvement in all the dynamic blood pressure parameters except daytime diastolic blood pressure and heart rate(24 h, daytime and night time), were significantly better than that of placebo-control group(Plt;0.05).The improvement in left ventricular and renal functional parameters were significantly better than that of placebo-control group(Plt;0.05). Conclusion Anti-hypertension treatment may significantly improve left ventricular pachynsis and renal function damage in very elderly hypertensive patients.
ObjectiveTo explore the predictive value of the modified frailty index-11 (mFI-11) for postoperative complications in elderly lung cancer patients undergoing robot-assisted lobectomy. MethodsRetrospective collection of clinical data from lung cancer patients aged ≥65 years who underwent robot-assisted lobectomy at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial Hospital, from January 2022 to June 2025. Based on the optimal grouping threshold of 0.27 in previous studies for the mFI-11 score, patients were divided into a frail and a non-frail group. Postoperative complications of the two groups were analyzed, and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between mFI-11 and postoperative complications. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive efficiency of mFI-11 for postoperative complications. ResultsA total of 161 patients were included, with 77 males and 84 females, and an average age of (68.48±2.90) years. Among them, 103 (64.0%) patients were in the non-frail group and 58 (36%) in the frail group. Differences between the two groups in terms of independent functional status, hypertension requiring drug control, history of type 2 diabetes, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and tumor staging were all statistically significant (P<0.05). The length of postoperative hospital stay in the frail group was longer than that in the non-frail group [5.50 (5.00, 8.25) d vs. 5.00 (4.00, 5.00) d, P<0.001]. The incidence rates of general respiratory diseases (25.9% vs. 8.7%), hypoproteinemia (15.5% vs. 4.9%), arrhythmia (12.1% vs. 1.9%), bronchopleural fistula (5.2% vs. 0.0%), transfer to ICU for severe complications (10.3% vs. 1.0%), and readmission within 30 days after discharge (12.1% vs. 1.9%) were all higher in the frail group compared to the non-frail group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that mFI-11 had a better predictive efficiency for postoperative complications: general respiratory diseases [area under the curve (AUC)=0.759], hypoproteinemia (AUC=0.723), arrhythmia (AUC=0.795), transfer to ICU for severe complications (AUC=0.713), and readmission within 30 days after discharge (AUC=0.702). ConclusionmFI-11 can effectively predict postoperative complications in elderly lung cancer patients undergoing robot-assisted lobectomy and can serve as an objective indicator for identifying high-risk elderly lung cancer patients.