[Evaluation of operative mortality among patients aged over 80 between 1970 and 1980]

The second surgical department of the Postgraduate Medical School conducted a 10-year analysis covering patients aged over 80. The results suggest that elective surgery is advisable even at this advanced age. A sound pre-operative diagnosis can help ensure that aged patients undergo an operation at the earliest possible date, the death rate from surgery carried out in a late acute stage being much higher. The authors take issue with the view -- still regarded as a dogma in the surgical world -- that the operation should be "minimal". They note that good results in "geriatric" surgery depend on good management and adequate pre-operative and post-operative observation.