Laparoscopic surgery in the elderly: personal experience in 141 cases.
BACKGROUND
As life expectancy increases, the number of elderly patients presenting with surgically correctable diseases will rise as well. For advantages, which are well recognized in young patients, laparoscopic surgery has been proposed also for older patients. Because of underlying chronic diseases, however, elderly patients have been considered at high risk for the laparoscopic approach. Several studies have pointed out the risks related to cardiac, respiratory, or general comorbidities when elderly patients are proposed for laparoscopic treatment of their surgical disease.


METHODS
In this study, we reported our experience in 141 patients older than 65 years who were submitted to laparoscopic procedures for several indications. According to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, patients were classified as ASA I in 70.9% of cases, ASA II in 27.6%, and ASA III in 1%.


RESULTS
No mortality has been reported. Conversion rate was 5.3% for bleeding in 4 cases or intraoperative hypotension in 2 cases. Mean hospital stay was 5 days. Postoperative complication was reported in 1 case and consisted of a hearth attack.


CONCLUSIONS
Laparoscopic surgery in the elderly is a safe procedure, if preoperative selection of the patients is accomplished. An experienced surgical team and multidisciplinary approach are mandatory.
Vecchio
Rosario
R
Department of General Surgery, University of Catania, Catania, Italy. rvecchio@unict.it
Gelardi
Valentina
V
Persi
Achille
A
Intagliata
Eva
E
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension / Q000209:etiology; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D016896:Treatment Outcome