Common cardiovascular issues encountered in geriatric critical care.
The incidence and prevalence of CV disease is high in the growing US elderly population. It is common for CV disease to be either the primary or secondary problem for elderly patients receiving critical care. The therapeutic options for CV problems experienced in the critical care setting range from medical management with the goal of symptom relief and comfort care to invasive therapies such as PCI, intraaortic balloon pump therapy, invasive monitoring, and cardiac surgery. Age alone is not a contraindication for any of the invasive therapies. Instead, a careful risk-benefit analysis should be performed for each individual patient, taking into consideration physiologic age, comorbid conditions, other disabilities, and an assessment of quality of life. Additionally, the goals (symptom relief, improvement of quality of life, survival benefit) of any therapy should be clearly established for individual patients. End-of-life issues, cardiovascular surgery, and the disabling of ICDs deserve special consideration in the elderly, as these are often challenging issues that will likely be more frequently encountered in critical care settings as science and technology advance.
Section of Cardiology, P3-Cards Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 3710 Southwest US Veterans Hospital Road, Portland, OR 97207, USA. crispell@ohsu.edu
Kathy A
KA
Crispell
D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003422:Critical Care; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015995:Prevalence; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology