La chirurgie digestive lourde après 80 ansÉtude rétrospective de 54 cas

Objective The interest in geriatric surgery is on the increase because of the ageing of the population. Our study reviewed the results of a non-specialised unit. Method 54 octogenarians underwent digestive surgery including visceral resection. Cancer predominated the indications (80%). Results The patients exhibited cardiovascular (87%), endocrine (18.5%) or neuropsychiatric (29.6%) disorders with 75% scoring ASA III or IV. Morbidity was of 81.5% with 20% of specifically surgical complications and a 40.2% rate of cardiovascular complications. Post-surgical mortality was of 7.4% and the survival rate at 2 years was of 44.4%. The treating physicians judged that in 65% of patients the intervention had improved the initial status of the patient and had stabilised the disease in 35% of cases. The percentage of patients living at home declined from 83.3% before the intervention to 64.8% after the intervention. Only 2 out of the 9 patients having undergone stomy of the colon following colectomy continued to improve. Conclusion This study underlines the interest of major surgery in octogenarians, including in units non-specialised in geriatric surgery.