Background/aim: The aging population has been growing gradually; therefore, the proportion of elderly patients undergoing colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has also been increasing. However, there is a lack of large-scale studies on the efficacy and safety of colorectal ESD in elderly patients.
Patients and methods: This retrospective analysis evaluated colorectal ESDs performed at five tertiary medical institutions between January 2015 and December 2020. Patients were categorized into the following four age groups: Middle-aged (<65 years), young-elderly (≥65 to <75 years), mid-elderly (≥75 to <85 years), and very elderly (≥85 years). Of the 1,446 patients included, 668 (46.2%), 466 (32.2%), 293 (20.3%), and 19 (1.3%) were in the middle-aged, young-elderly, mid-elderly, and very-elderly groups, respectively.
Results: Compared to younger patients, more older patients used aspirin, clopidogrel, and anti-thrombotic agents. Additionally, the Charlson comorbidity index increased significantly with increasing age. However, no significant differences were observed in the complete resection rates nor the rates of complications, such as perforation, bleeding, and post-ESD coagulation syndrome, among the different age groups. A restricted cubic spline curve was used to construct predictive models for complete resection and major complications based on age and showed that the need for complete resection did not decrease with increasing age. Furthermore, major complications did not significantly differ with age progression.
Conclusion: Colorectal ESD should be actively considered as a relatively safe and effective treatment method for elderly patients.
Keywords: Age; colon; colorectal neoplasm; endoscopic submucosal dissection; endoscopy.
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