**Author note**

This chapter has been originally presented with the title "Surgery for colorectal cancer in the elderly: Is it safe"? at the Tripartite Colorectal Meeting of the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain & Ireland (ACPGBI) and the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand, in association with the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP), 30th June to 3rd July 2014, Birmingham, UK.

It was published in abstract form in Colorectal Disease 2014, Vol.16, issue S2.
