9.11.2011

Not Too Old For Surgery

My general philosophy is that age alone is rarely a contraindication to surgery. In fact, elderly patients generally have less physiologic reserve, and often do better with an early surgical approach to most problems.

While many elderly do fine with traumatic brain injury, and require only observation, with little to no intervention, a recent study in the Journal of Neurosurgery shows that patients over 80 years old, did as well as their younger counterparts after surgery for intracranial hematomas.  While the length of stay increased as well as the complications in the elderly group, the overall mortality and return to functional status did not differ.

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