Pancreatic Cancer Surgery Can Still Help Patients Over 80
According to surgeons at the Jefferson Medical College, age doesn’t necessarily have to be the deciding factor for cancer surgery. Major pancreatic cancer surgery can actually be successfully performed on patients in their 80s, 90s and even older; contrary to what many (in and out of the medical profession) believe.
Pancreatic cancer surgeon Charles J. Yeo and his colleagues studied records of pancreatic surgery during the last 35 years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore:
Dr. Yeo and co-workers examined records of nearly 2,700 cases of the standard Whipple operation for pancreatic disease, including cancer. Of these, about 1,000 operations were performed in the last four years. Of this group, 207 patients were 80 years old or older. Those who were 80 to 89 years of age had a mortality rate of 4.1 percent (8 of 197), and a complication rate of 52.8 percent.
Those younger than 80 years old had a mortality rate of 1.7 percent, with a complication rate of 41.6 percent. Of 10 patients 90 or older, the researchers reported no deaths after surgery, though half had complications. Of those 80 to 89 years old, 59.1 percent lived for at least one year, while 60 percent of patients 90 years and older lived that long after surgery.
In the 80 years old bracket, the complications are expected because the patients are most probably inflicted with heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
According to Dr. Yeo: “The general aging population isn’t dying from pancreas disease,” he notes. “They are dying from other causes.”
Read more at Jefferson Medical College.
Tags: pancreatic-cancer, surgeryRelated Stories
POSTED IN: general commentary, on pancreatic cancer
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