Laparoscopic Resection of Rectal Carcinomas in the Elderly Several studies dealing with open surgery in malignant tumors have shown that the postoperative course does not depend so much on age per se as it is related to the individual functional state and medical problems present before surgery. On the other hand, many investigations reported benefits for laparoscopic colorectal surgery in terms of faster postoperative recovery, morbidity, and mortality. In order to assess the outcome of laparoscopic rectal resection in patients aged 70 years or older, we retrospectively compared this patient group with patients under 70 years of age who also underwent laparoscopic rectum resection for rectal cancer at our hospital between July 1993 und October 2002. A total of 179 patients was studied. 123 patients were under 70 years of age (group A), and 56 were 70 years or older (group B). Both groups were well balanced in terms of tumor stages and surgical methods used. The most common procedures were low anterior resection (60% in group A and 61% in group B), followed by high anterior resection (22% in group A and 25% in group B). The postoperative complication rate was 18.4% (15.4 vs. 21.4%). The most common complication in both groups was the anastomotic leakage (10.6 vs. 12.5%). There were no perioperative deaths in either group. Incisional hernia was the most common late complication in both groups (3.2 vs. 7.1%). After a median follow-up of 39 months (range 1–112 months) the records of 97% of the patients could be investigated. There were no differences with respect to the median survival time between the two patients groups (47 vs. 42 months after curative resection and 22 vs. 23 months after palliative operation). This study shows that laparoscopic rectum resection for rectal cancer is not associated with higher morbidity and mortality when comparing patients over 70 years of age with younger patients.