[Surgery in advanced age]. / Chirurgie im hohen Lebensalter.

ABSTRACT

Between 1982 and 1990 724 patients aged between 85 and 102 years were hospitalized (average age 88.7 years). Operations were performed on 482 of them (66.6%). The surgical mortality amounted to 16.8%. The mortality in conjunction with emergency operation was as high as 28.2%, or as low as 11.4% in the context of elective operations. X-ray findings recorded from heart and lung, and ECG provided reliable criteria for assessment of the surgical risk.