Staging and survival of colorectal cancer (CRC) in octogenarians: Nationwide Study of US Veterans.

Background: The US Preventive Services Task Force of Colorectal Cancer (USPSTF) recommends against continuing screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) past 75 years in adequately screened individuals. Survival and staging data for CRC that compares elderly vs. younger populations has not been published. This study aims to compare staging (04) of CRC in groups of 6069, 7079 and 8089yearold; also, to compare surgical and no treatment (i.e., no surgery) survival outcomes (510 years) in these age groups. Methods: Male veterans within groups 6069, 7079 and 8089 years of age who were diagnosed with CRC between 2000 and 2015 were selected from Veterans affairs national cancer cube registry. Results: Their staging, surgery or no treatment, and 510 years survival data was obtained from the cancer cube. Surgical and survival data was obtained only for stage 02 as surgery is currently the standard of treatment for these stages. Conclusions: Highest number of CRC cases diagnosed across each age group was stage 1 with stage 2 being second. In surgical treatment group the survival was statistical different for 8089 age group as compared to 6069 (34.4%) and 7079 (30.86%) although octogenarians did have a surprisingly high mean of 25.45%. The 510year survival data for no treatment group (i.e., no surgery) was very poor.