Hepatectomy in Elderly Patients: Does Age Matter?

• Published in: World journal of surgery 2013-12, Vol.37 (12), p.2899-2910
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yanming, Zhang, Xiaofeng, Zhang, Zuobing, Liu, Xiaobin, Wu, Lupeng, Li, Yumin, Li, Bin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdominal Surgery; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - mortality; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - surgery; Cardiac Surgery; Colorectal Liver Metastasis; Disease-Free Survival; General Surgery; Hepatectomy - mortality; Hepatic Resection; Humans; Liver Neoplasms - mortality; Liver Neoplasms - secondary; Liver Neoplasms - surgery; Liver Resection; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Models, Statistical; Postoperative Complications - etiology; Postoperative Complications - mortality; Surgery; Survival Rate; Thoracic Surgery; Treatment Outcome; Vascular Surgery; Weighted Mean Difference; Young Group
• ISSN: 0364-2313; 1432-2323
• DOI: 10.1007/s00268-013-2184-5

Background With the increase in average life expectancy in recent decades, the proportion of elderly patients requiring liver surgery is rising. The aim of the meta-analysis reported here was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of hepatectomy in elderly patients. Methods An extensive electronic search was performed for relevant articles that compare the outcomes of hepatectomy in patients ≥70 years of age with those in younger patients prior to October 2012. Analysis of pooled data was performed with RevMan 5.0. Results Twenty-eight observational studies involving 15,480 patients were included in the analysis. Compared with the younger patients, elderly patients experienced more complications (31.8 vs 28.7 %; P  = 0.002), mainly as a result of increased cardiac complications (7.5 vs 1.9 %; P