Key result
Biliary disease leads causes of emergency abdominal operations in older adults, while appendicitis accounts for 15%.
Observational (n=200)
In patients over 70 undergoing emergency abdominal surgery, biliary disease is the most common cause, and early definitive surgery is suggested for the best chance of success.
Informs etiology patterns for emergency abdominal surgery in patients over 70; leaves open optimal strategies pending prospective validation.
The tremendous increase of emergency abdominal operations in elderly adults is due to the growing geriatric population, many with abdominal pathology. There also seems to be a greater willingness of the surgeon to operate on these patients. This report deals with 200 consecutive abdominal emergency operations in patients above age 70. During a period of 8 years, 472 operations in this age group were performed; there was a total of 871 emergency operations in all ages. The number of men was higher than women. The commonest cause of surgery in this group was biliary disease, followed by intestinal obstruction. Appendicitis was responsible for only 15% of the geriatric emergencies. The results suggest that early surgery with definitive procedures offers the best chance of success.
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R Reiss (1985) conducted an observational in Emergency abdominal pathology (n=200). Emergency abdominal operations was evaluated on Cause of surgery. Among 200 emergency abdominal operations in patients over 70, biliary disease was the most common cause, and appendicitis accounted for 15% of cases.
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