Assessment and comparison of results of surgical therapy of esophageal carcinoma between young and old patients

To assess the results of surgical therapy of esophageal carcinoma and it's differences between young and old patients For a 16 year period from February 1989 to January 2005, 335 patients with esophageal carcinoma underwent surgical operation. The patients were divided into three age groups; Group I: aged less than 50 years, Group II: aged between 51 and 70 years and Group III: aged more than 70 years There were no significant differences among the three groups with regard to site and length of the lesion, sex ratio, depth of tumor invasion, vessel permeation, gross types, TNM classification and crude actuarial 5 years survival curves. The only difference clearly evident between young and older patients was the number of hospital deaths and hospital stay due to complication. These were significantly higher in older than young patients [P < 0.05]. In spite of significant differences from the viewpoint of age, were between gastric and colorectal carcinoma, the esophageal carcinoma in patients aged less than 50 years appeared to behave biologically like the same neoplasm in older patients