[The elderly surgical patient. Experiences with patients over 85]

Hospitalised treatment was applied to 326 patients aged between 85 and 101 years, between 1982 and 1987. Operations were performed on 215 of them. The surgical lethality amounted to 16.3 per cent, though lethality in conjunction with emergency operations was as high as 23.9 per cent or as low as 11.8 per cent in the context of elective operations. X-ray findings recorded from heart and lung as well as ECG provided reliable criteria for assessment of the surgical risk.