A 100-year-old woman with transverse colon cancer underwent robotic-assisted colectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis and Pfannenstiel specimen extraction. She was independent in activities of daily living and classified as non-frail based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Preoperative imaging showed localized disease without metastasis. The operation was completed without complications, and postoperative recovery was uneventful, with preservation of functional status. Histopathology revealed poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with direct invasion into the jejunum and microsatellite instability (MSI) -high phenotype. At 6 months after surgery, the patient remains recurrence-free and ambulatory. This case suggests that curative minimally invasive surgery may be feasible in carefully selected centenarian patients. Functional assessment rather than chronological age alone should guide surgical decision-making in super-elderly individuals.
Iwata et al. (Wed,) studied this question.