Preoperative evaluation and intraoperative care and postoperative care, Ch. 22. Common surgical problems in the elderly. The art and science of consultation in medicine. Delirium in the elderly patient. Age is an independent risk factor for operative mortality.
Age is an independent risk factor for peri-operative cardiac morbidity.
Sensitivity to inhalational anesthetics tends to increase with age. The sudden development of paranoid dellusions and hallucinations in an elderly patient recovering from surgery is usually due to schizophrenia. Epidural anesthesia has been shown to be clearly safer than general anesthesia for most surgical procedures. Many of the scales for evaluating cardiac risk in the surgical patient are reasonably specific, but suffer from low sensitivity. Restraints should be used as the primary means of managing the agitated or delirious patient.