Affiliation:
1. Department of Surgical Sciences Otago Medical School, University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
Abstract
ABSTRACTBackgroundTo assess the clinical and financial impact of metachronous colorectal neoplasia (MCRN) requiring surgery after cessation of colonoscopic surveillance at age 75.MethodsThe Otago Clinical Audit database was interrogated to identify all colorectal neoplasia (CRN) resections between January 2020 and November 2022 and additional patients undergoing surgery for MCRN aged ≥ 75 (MCRN ≥ 75) between 2010 and 2020. The morbidity, hospital stay, and costs of surgery for MCRN ≥ 75 cases were compared to first colorectal neoplasia (FCRN) cases ≥ 75 and to all other colorectal resections, with and without propensity matching.ResultsMCRN was identified in 3.1% of patients < 75 and 13.1% of patients ≥ 75. Identifying a further 41 patients with surgery for MCRN ≥ 75 after 2010 resulted in 55 patients with MCRN aged ≥ 75, 93 with FCRN aged ≥ 75, and 130 with CRN aged < 75. The median(IQR) age for MCRN ≥ 75 was 81 (78–86). Surgery for MCRN ≥ 75 compared to FCRN ≥ 75 resulted in complication rates of 70.9% and 50.5% (p = 0.024), hospital stay nine versus seven days (p = 0.012), readmissions 20% versus 6.5% (p = 0.026) and cost of NZD 31 021 versus 24 157 (p = 0.028). When compared to all other resections, and adjusting for different approaches to rectal cancer in elderly patients, these differences all increased. The estimated annual hospital cost for MCRN ≥ 75 surgery was NZD 317 777.ConclusionMCRN accounted for 13.1% of operations in patients aged ≥ 75. This resulted in more morbidity and cost than surgery for FCRN ≥ 75. Stopping surveillance of those with previous surgery for CRN at 75 years of age results in significant institutional cost and patient morbidity.