ATHEROSCLEROTIC HEART-DISEASE IN THE ELDERLY

The elderly represent an increasingly important and challenging subset of the population of patients with ischemic heart disease. They are m ore likely to have comorbid conditions, atypical presentations, and un favorable outcomes. Some of these features are undoubtedly related to the structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular system ass ociated with aging. The available data suggest that standard pharmacol ogic, thrombolytic, and definitive revascularization techniques have i mportant roles in the treatment of these patients, but have been under used.