Morbidity and mortality in geriatric patients undergoing emergency surgery

Abstract

Introduction: as a result of the increase in life expectancy, more patients aged over 60 undergo surgery, and a large number of them undergo emergency surgery. Objective: describe anesthetic morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular origin in geriatric patients undergoing emergency surgery. Methods: a prospective longitudinal descriptive study was conducted of 123 patients aged over 60 at Leopoldito Martínez General Teaching Hospital from January 2010 to December 2011. The data were collected from medical records and anesthesia protocols. Results: 34.1 % of the patients had a history of cardiovascular disease, and arterial hypertension was predominant in 15.4 %. Smoking was the most frequent risk factor (26.8 %), and herniorrhaphy was the most common emergency intervention (33.3 %). The anesthetic method most frequently used was general anesthesia (68.3 %), with a predominance of general orotracheal anesthesia. Most cardiovascular complications appeared during the transoperative period. Five patients died (4.1 %), with no death attributable to the anesthetic procedure applied. Conclusions: a direct relationship was found between anesthetic morbidity of cardiovascular origin and mortality in geriatric patients undergoing emergency surgery.

Keywords

• paciente geriátrico, morbilidad y mortalidad cardiovasculares, cirugía de urgencia