Complications of ambulatory major dermatological surgery in patients older than 85 years

During the last decades, the progressive ageing of the population has resulted in a rising skin cancer incidence. Although previous studies detected no higher morbidity for dermatological surgery in senior patients, their exclusion from optimal surgical treatment remains as a common clinical practice.

The aim of this study was to determine the diseases treated with ambulatory major dermatological surgery, the surgical morbidity and the associated variables in ≥ 85 year-old patients.

This is an observational study on 247 successive patients older than 85 years of age who underwent dermatological surgery in a single Ambulatory Mayor Surgery unit. Studied variables were age, gender, tobacco-alcohol exposure, co-morbid medical conditions, blood-thinning medication, antibiotic prophylaxis, number of lesions, location, histopathological diagnosis, area of skin removed, surgical technique, type of flap, length of surgery, entrance order, suture thread, surgical complications and need of post-operative admission.

The most common site was head and neck (82.7%). The most frequent tumour was basal cell carcinoma (45.1%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (38.7%) and melanoma (8.3%). Direct closure was the most frequent procedure (55.6%). Of the total number of patients, 7.9% of patients suffered complications; necrosis followed by cellulitis were the most frequent. Length of surgical procedure, area of skin removed and reconstruction with skin-graft were significantly related to higher risk of post-operative complications.

No intra or post-surgical mortality or life-threatening local complications were detected. Most post-surgical local complications appeared after wide excisions and complex reconstruction techniques that prolonged the length of the surgery.