[Surgery in the elderly--extent and status in surgery]

The results of selected elective and emergency operations of patients treated in the surgical department of Bonn University in 1994 and 1995 are presented and compared to the ASA-score. It was possible to show that old age itself is not a contraindication for major surgical interventions but that lethality mainly depends on concurrent diseases, i.e. the biological age. The numeric age is not an important factor. Physiological ageing only leads to diminished functional capacity, which can be partly compensated by more intensive care combined with early medical treatment. An age-specific factor which cannot be measured is the psychosocial age, the mental health. Mental health has an important influence on surgery in the aged patient.