Juefeng Wan

Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center

Objective:Patients were excluded if they were older than 75 years of age in most clinical trials. Thus, the optimal treatment strategies in elderly patients are still controversial. The aim of the study was to determining the optimal treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer in elderly patients aged 75 years and older. Method: We designed our study to specifically evaluate the cancer specific survival of four subgroups of patients according to four different treatment modalities: surgery only,radiation (RT) only, neoadjuvant RT and adjuvant RT by analyzing the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-registered database. Result:The results showed that the 5-year cancer specific survival (CSS) was 52.1% in group 1 (surgery only), 27.7%in group 2 (RT only), 70.4% in group 3 (neoadjuvant RT) and 60.4% in group 4 (adjuvantRT), which had significant difference in univariate log-rank test (P<0.001). Conclusion: The neoadjuvant RT and surgery may be the optimal treatment pattern in elderly patients, especially to patients medically fit for the operation.

Key Words: rectal cancer  elderly  SEER