Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Octogenarians

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yamanashi Prefecture Central Hospital, Kofu, Japan)

Narutoshi Hibino Koji Tsuchiya Masato Nakajima
Hideki Sasaki Harunobu Matsumoto Yuji Naito
We reviewed 223 cases of surgical treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm in octogenarians in this hospital between 1981 and 2000, and investigated the characteristic features, complications, and indications of the operation. The cases were divided into two age groups. Group O included 23 cases of octogenarians, and Group Y included 200 cases of patients under 80 years old. The average age was 68.6 years old in group Y (33-79 years old), and 83 years old in group O (80-93 years old). The hospital mortality rate was 0% in elective operation cases. In emergency operation case, Group O had a hospital mortality rate of 57.1%, significantly higher than the 6.1% for group Y. The hospital mortality rate was 17% in group O and 0.5% in group Y. The rate of emergency operation case was significantly higher in group O (30.4%) compared to group Y (16.5%). As for the preoperative complications, group O had more cases of renal dysfunction, COPD and gastrointestinal complication. As for the coronary artery disease and other cardiovascular complications, there were no significant differences between the groups. In the postoperative complication, group O had more cases of ileus, pneumonia, and cardiovascular disease. These complications were fatal in group O. These results suggest that surgical treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm was performed safely in both groups for elective operations. Because the results of emergency operations are poor, early diagnosis and treatment seem to be important for the improvement of operative results.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 31F321-324 (2002)