Symptomatic biliary tract disease in the elderly patient

Acute symptomatic biliary tract disease in the elderly is usually associated with a tenfold increase in operative morbidity and mortality when compared to the disease in non-elderly patients. Over a 10-year period 118 elderly patients with a mean age of 77.2 years (range 65 to 98 years) were operated on for benign biliary tract disease. Acute cholecystitis was found at operation in 33 patients (28%), empyema in nine (7.6%), gangrene of the gallbladder in three (2.5%), and 24 patients (20.3%) were found to have common bile duct stones. Seventy-three patients had chronic cholecystitis. Complications occurred in 29 patients (24.6%), with pneumonia and wound infection as the two most common. Fifteen patients died, making the overall mortality rate 12.7 per cent. The mean age of the patients who died was 81.5 years. Two patients died following elective operations (mortality rate 1.7%), while the remainder died after emergent or urgent operations (11%). Elective biliary tract surgery in the elderly for symptomatic disease is safe and will reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality.