title: Morbidity and mortality after coronary artery bypass in octogenarians.
abstract: One hundred fifty seven consecutive octogenarians (mean age +/- standard deviation, 82.4 +/- 1.9 years) underwent coronary artery bypass grafting with hypothermia (mean temperature, 21.8 degrees +/- 1.8 degrees C), hyperkalemic cardioplegia, and cardiopulmonary bypass in a 9-year period. Sixty-six percent were male. Preoperatively, 115 patients (73%) were in New York Heart Association functional class IV, with the remainder being in either class III (23%) or class II (4%). Twenty percent of the patients had major complications including postoperative hemorrhage (15), sepsis (9), cerebrovascular accident (6), third-degree heart block (5), renal failure requiring dialysis (1), and pulmonary embolism (1). The 30-day or in-hospital mortality rate was 7.0%. Mean total hospital stay was 26.1 +/- 17.9 days. One-year and 5-year actuarial survival rates were 85% and 62%, respectively. Higher mortality was seen to be associated with New York Heart Association class IV, left ventricular ejection fraction less than 0.40, and lesser values for cardiac output and cardiac index. At the 6-month postoperative follow-up, 73% of the survivors reported that their general health had improved as compared with before operation. This experience demonstrates that for select octogenarians with unmanageable angina pectoris, coronary artery bypass grafting is an effective therapeutic option.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048.
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nessim
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kass
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chaux
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blanche
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Utley
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Matloff
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011788:Quality of Life