JUAN CRESTANELLO: Imagine that you have a patient who is 92 years old and needs a cardiac surgery procedure. Can it be done safely? What are the outcomes? This article will address your questions. I am Dr. Juan Crestanello. Welcome to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series. I'll review today the outcomes of cardiac surgery procedures in nonagenarians.

In our clinic we had operated in 134 nonagenarians during a 27-year period. There were a very small percentage of all the patients who had cardiac surgery at our clinic. Only 0.4%. The most common surgeries were isolated valve and combined valve, plus coronary artery bypass surgery. When compared with patients who had cardiac surgery while they were in their 80s, operative mortality was similar, only 6%, as well as operative complications.

The length of hospital stay was similar to patients in their 80s, but more patients in their 90s were discharged to a nursing home facility or to an extended care facility. As expected, the long term survival was better in octogenarians than in nonagenarians. We conclude that cardiac surgery in nonagenarians is rarely performed. However cardiac surgery can be performed safely in selected nonagenarians with similar outcomes as of patients in their 80s. Thank you for listening to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series.