[Thoracic surgery in patients older than 70 years (author's transl)]

In a total of 10,000 thoracosurgical operations the percentage of patients being older than 70 years amounted to 1.1. Most of these patients underwent surgery for bronchial carcinoma. The postoperative mortality rate in these patients could be lowered to 1.0% (1977/78). 25% of the patients older than 70 years who suffered from lung cancer stage I and II survived for more than 5 years after operation.