Surgical and pathological characteristics
The surgical and pathological characteristics of the cohort is outlined in Table 2. The majority of colorectal cancer resections in both age groups were urgent procedures that occurred within 30 days of diagnosis (75-85 age group, 74% vs 85+ age group, 79%, p=0.35). Laparoscopic procedures were more common in both groups (67% vs 77%, p=0.50) when compared to open procedures. Both age groups demonstrated a high number of right sided colon cancers (61% vs 73%, p=0.24), with no significant difference in cancer locations between the two groups. In keeping with tumour location, the most common surgical procedure in both groups was a right hemicolectomy (59% vs 71%, p=0.49).
For the majority of cases in both groups, histopathological analysis identified adenocarcinoma of no special type (86% vs 79%, p=0.46) with a low histological grade of cancer (72% vs 72%, p=1.0). There was no significant difference between groups with regards to stage of disease at time of surgery. In both groups, the most common stage of cancer progression at time of surgery was Stage IIa (29% vs 23%, p=0.57).