Is arterial surgery advisable for patients over 80 years of age?

Background Recently life expectancy has become longer and longer. The purpo se of this study was to analyse whether arterial surgery for patients over 80 years of age is advisable. Methods. During the last 14 years, 527 patients, 50 of whom were over So an d 477 of whom were under 80 years of age, received graft replacement or byp ass surgery. They suffered from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (R-AAA, n=21), non-ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (N-R AAA, n=133) or arteriosc lerosis obliterans (ASO, n=373). Complications such as cerebrovascular dise ase, ischemic heart disease, respiratory and kidney dysfunction, and risk f actors for ASO were also checked. Results. All of the patients over 80 with R-AAA (n=3/3) and 50% of the pati ents under 80 with R-AAA (n=9/18) died during their stay in the hospital. H owever, none of the N-R AAA patients over 80 (n=0/7) and only one of the 12 6 N-R AAA patients (0.8%) under 80 died. For the patients over 80 with ASO, the graft patency rate was better than the patients' survival rate. There were no age-specific factors that should condemn arterial surgery for patie nts over 80 years of age. Conclusions. Arterial surgery should not be ruled out on the basis of age a lone.