A Psychological Study of the Effects of Surgery on Eighty‐six Elderly Patients

Eighty‐six surgical patients of 70 years and over were studied by means of psychologist's daily ratings on progress and personality traits during their hospital stay. In addition fifty‐one patients among them and two control groups were assessed by means of a battery of tests before and after surgery. The results were studied to determine whether there was evidence of deterioration among the surgical patients, and to elucidate the cause of this. The evidence indicates that after surgery there is, in many elderly people, some degree of transient postoperative mental disturbance, mainly affecting memory and intellectual abilities which require organization of thought. The evidence suggests that the cause of these changes lies in the effects of the anaesthetic upon the cerebral cortex, which is in some cases aggravated by the presence of complications or fever, and the drugs given to combat them. In addition a few patients appear to have an abreactive experience similar to the effects of LSD.25, mescaline or similar drugs.