Geropharmacology and gastrointestinal surgery

Operating on elderly patients has always been a risky task for surgeons. They are not only frail and susceptible to operative complications, but they also require meticulous preparation before their surgery to secure the optimal result. Unfortunately, most of these patients have comorbidities which increase the challenge. Even though the medication they use is helpful to control their diseases, it can change the plan of the surgery and its outcome dramatically. Postoperative medications and treatment also have a unique importance; underestimating them may lead to catastrophic results. Restarting routine medications of patients with multiple comorbidities as quickly as we can when we perform a successful surgery is also crucially important to control the associated diseases. This chapter will focus on how senility influences our surgical practices; how pharmaceutical agents might affect the survivability of elderly patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery, and the potential roles of several senotherapeutics in gastrointestinal disorders.