Coronary bypass surgery in patients aged 70 years and over: Mortality, morbidity, & length of stay. Dar al-fouad experience

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to compare the outcome of isolated coronary artery bypass grafting surgery in patients 70 years with those <70. The cardiac surgery ICU database of the Institute was used to obtain the characteristics of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting between January 2001and March 2013. The patients were divided into those 70 years of age and those <70 years old. Euroscore was determined for each patient for the analysis of mortality, and length of stay. During the study period, 7225 cases of coronary artery bypass grafting were carried out (isolated or with valve surgery), 501 (14.4%) cases were performed in the older group. The 30-day mortality for patients aged 70 and over was 17 (3.3%) out of 501 while that of patients <70 years of age was 188 (2.6%) out of 7225. Apart from a higher incidence of wound infection in elderly patients, the frequency of other major complications was comparable in both groups. The average length of postoperative stay for the elderly patients was 15.4 ± 0.9 days compared to 13.7 ± 0.2 days for the younger group This study supports the continued performance of coronary artery bypass grafting in patients 70 years. Advanced age alone should not deter a cardiac surgeon from offering such a potentially beneficial intervention.