[General anesthesia for ophthalmic surgery in patients over 80 years]

Among 150 elderly ophthalmological patients over 80 years old, only seven patients did not undergo a general anaesthesia, because of respiratory insufficiency and/or ventricular extrasystoles. The other, 143 patients underwent 178 operations under general anaesthesia with minimal per and postsurgical complications. Therefore, it seems unjustified to deny the benefit of general anaesthesia to ophthalmologic surgical patients more than 80 years old.