Interest in treatments for elderly patients has increased with life expectancy, and various studies have reported on the safety and feasibility of radical surgery in elderly patients with cancer. Here, we investigated oncologic outcomes of periampullary cancer in octogenarians.

We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 68 patients over 80 years of age who were diagnosed with periampullary cancer and were eligible for surgery; we analyzed overall survival (OS) and immediate postoperative complications and mortality.

There were no significant differences in mean age, disease type, oncologic features, comorbidities, or nutritional status between the patients who had surgery and those who did not. Five patients (20.0%) had major postoperative complications, but there was no immediate postoperative mortality. Patients who had surgery (n=25) had better OS (29.3 months; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.6–53.0) than did those who did not (n=43, OS: 7.6 months; 95% CI: 3.2–12.0 months; p <0.001). Similarly, patients with distal common bile duct cancer who underwent surgery had better OS than those who did not (surgery group: n=13, OS: 29.3 months, 95% CI: 8.9–49.7; non-surgery group: n=15, OS: 5.7 months, 95% CI: 4.2–7.2 months; p =0.002).

Radical surgery for octogenarian patients with periampullary cancer is safe, feasible, and expected to result in better survival outcomes, especially for patients with common bile duct cancer.