Acute surgical abdomen in the elderly

Abstract

Introduction: with the aging of the population an increasing number of patients attend consultation for acute abdominal symptoms that require timely and comprehensive care. Objective: to describe the causes and evolution of the acute surgical abdomen in the elderly. Methods: a descriptive observational study was carried out at the “Arnaldo Milián Castro” Hospital in the Province of Villa Clara from January 2017 to December 2018. The population consisted of 780 patients who entered the Surgery Services for acute abdomen. Sex, age, cause of acute surgical abdomen and post-surgical complications were study variables. Methods of descriptive statistics were used. The information was extracted from the medical records. Results: 54.2% were men and there was a predominance of the age group between 60 and 70 years. Complicated abdominal wall hernias were the disease with the highest incidence (34.7%), 81.4% of the adults who had undergone surgery had no post-surgical complications and mortality was 1.4%. Conclusions: the main causes of acute surgical abdomen in the elderly patient in this series were complicated abdominal wall herniation, acute appendicitis, intestinal occlusion and acute cholecystitis. There were low complications and mortality rates. The control of the acute surgical abdomen depends on the careful evaluation of the acute condition and the elective correction of known abdominal diseases.

Keywords

• abdomen agudo
• cirugía de urgencia
• anciano
• epidemiología descriptiva