Evaluation of the validity of pancreatoduodenectomy for octogenarian patients with biliary tract carcinoma from the perspective of recurrence

To clarify the short- and long-term validity of pancreatoduodenectomy in octogenarian patients with biliary tract carcinoma. We compared 23 and 141 patients aged ≥80 and &lt;80 years, who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for biliary tract carcinoma (distal cholangiocarcinomas and ampullary carcinomas) and evaluated the relationship between age, clinicopathological factors, and surgical and oncological outcomes, especially in terms of recurrence. Median overall survival time of distal cholangiocarcinoma and ampullary carcinoma was 92 and 109 months (<i>p</i> = 0.13). Postoperative complications, mortality, and adjuvant chemotherapy rates did not differ between the groups. Although the 5-year recurrence-free survival rate was similar, the 5-year disease-specific survival and overall survival rate were significantly shorter in octogenarians (≥80 years: 43.5, 47.1, and 35.3%; &lt;80 years: 54.1, 69.2, and 63.0%; <i>p</i> = 0.41, 0.016, and 0.034, respectively). The median time from recurrence to death for octogenarian patients was significantly shorter than that of younger patients (3.3 <i>vs.</i> 16.1 months, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). At recurrence, the serum albumin level, prognostic nutritional index, controlling nutritional status score, and treatment rate for recurrence were lower in octogenarians. The multivariate analysis identified age ≥80 years (hazard ratio: 3.8), low prognostic nutritional index (hazard ratio: 2.9), high serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (hazard ratio: 2.6), and failure to implement treatment after recurrence (hazard ratio: 3.0) as independent risk factors for a short time from recurrence to death. Furthermore, age ≥80 years (odds ratio 0.09) was an independent risk factor for treatment implementation after recurrence. Octogenarians had a shorter survival time after recurrence, resulting from low nutritional indices and a reduced rate of treatment implementation at the time of recurrence.