Results of Open Heart Surgery in the Septuagenarian

Open heart surgery has been extended to the septuagenarian. At the Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center, 42 patients 70 to 79 years old underwent 43 open heart procedures in the past 7 years. Their average age was 73 years and 62 % were male. Eighteen underwent aortic valve replacement; 7 had mitral valve replacement; 18 had coronary bypasses (3 with valve replacement); exploration for pul-monary embolism was done in 1; 1 patient had tricuspid replacement with mitral commissurotomy; 17% (7/42) died during hospitalization or within 30 days of surgery. Mean follow-up is 25 mo., and an addi-tional 19 % (8/42) have died at an average of 27 mo. after surgery. Open heart surgery is feasible for the elderly, but at an increased risk when compared to the younger patient submitted to the same procedure. T HE definition of an "elderly " cardiacpatient has changed in the past decade. Four patients (54-62 years old) who underwent aortic valve replacement in 1963 were labeled "elderly patients " (Spencer, Trinkle, Eiseman, Reeves, & Suramicz, 1964). In 1967, "older pa-tients " referred to a group of 273 patients age