CORONARY REVASCULARIZATION SURGERY IN THE ELDERLY

The indication of coronary revascularization surgery in elderly people confronts the clinician and the surgeon with a particular question, i n which quality of life is at least as important as prolonging life. A lthough age is not an intrinsec contraindication for surgery, a number of surgical risk factors are more frequent among elderly people, such as diabetes or pulmonary disease. These factors, together with the co ncomitant presence of aortic valvular stenosis or disease of the carot id or the peripheral arteries, must be taken into account before plann ing surgery. The new emerging techniques, such as transmyocardial lase r revascularization can also be applied to this segment of the populat ion.