Coronary bypass surgery in octogenarians

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The age of the patients referred for coronary bypass surgery is getting older progressively. Early and late postoperative outcome of octogenarians were evaluated and compared with younger age group in this study. METHODS: Records of 55 patients aged 80 years or older (mean age 82.7 +/- 2.8) among 3834 patients, who had coronary bypass graft procedure, operated between 1995 and 2001 were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 39 men (70.9%) and 16 women (29.1%). Three patients had aortic valve replacement, 1 had left ventricular aneurysm repair, 1 had carotid endarterectomy additionally. Atrial fibrillation (21.8%), renal dysfunction (16.4%), and prolonged ventilation (10.9%) were the prominent complications. The hospital mortality rate was 7.27% (4 patients). Kaplan Meier Survival Analysis estimated that at the end of 5 years 83.1 + 5.2% of patients were still alive. CONCLUSION: Coronary bypass operations can be performed in octogenarians with slightly increased but acceptable hospital mortality and longer hospital stay. Early intervention and individual modifications in cardiopulmonary bypass techniques may improve the results in this patient population.