80 year olds can still benefit from bypass surgery

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Most of those aged 80 or more who have a heart bypass are still alive five years later.
Some doctors believe that 80 is too old for a heart bypass. Not so, according to a new study from Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, England.

They looked at 12,461 patients who'd had a bypass, of whom 706 were over 80 years of age at the time of surgery. The proportion of patients who were in their 80s more than doubled between 1996 and 2003 - from four per cent to nearly 10 per cent. It's notable that these older patients were more likely to be treated as an emergency - suggesting that maybe the bypass could have been offered earlier.

The risk of dying was, admittedly, higher in the older group. But most were still alive five years later and their mortality rate was half that of this age group in the general population. Therefore, age should not be a reason for denying someone a heart bypass.

Source
BMJ Online First 17th August 2005