[Age dependence of metastases. A study of more than 5000 cases of death from cancer].

The frequency of haematogenous and lymphogenous metastases from 5,708 cancers of various types, confirmed on autopsies, decreased nearly continuously beyond the age of 60. Cases without metastases are found three times more in senility than in younger people. The decrease of tumor metastasis in elderly people is nearly the same for all kinds of cancers. In contrast to the haematogenous and lymphogenous metastases, a weak reduction of peritoneal metastasis indicates that the sclerosing of capillaries is an essential factor for the reduction of remote metastases in elderly people.