It has been estimated that 50% of persons who reach the sixth and seventh decades of life will require surgery
befor they die . At the time being more elderly peopele are undergoing surgery and are more likely to be
admitted as emergency cases than young, this study was done to evaluate the real situation of this problem in
our society & our surgical practice.
A prospective study was done on 109 patients (61 male and 48 female ) above the age of 60 year, admitted to
the emergency unit and surgical wards of Najaf hospitals, complaining from acute abdomen , for one year period
Feb. 2004 to Feb. 2005, The study discuss different aspects such as : age, sex distribution, causes, percentage of
operative to conservative management, hospital stay, complications and mortality rate.
The mean age was 67.4 years , the largest admission was for age group 60-70(68 %), 81 patients (74.3%) were
treated operatively , other 28 patients (25.7%) were treated conservatively. The most common causes of acute
abdomen were intestinal obstruction (30%), liver and gall bladder diseases (24.7%) , followed by urinary
system disorders (19%) , then peptic ulcer (8.25%) , appendicular disorders (7.3%) , gyenecological diseases
(3.6%), pancreatic disorders (3.6%) and other less frequent disorders represent (2.7%). The most common post
operative complication was chest infection (38.3%), ileus (28.4%), wound infection (19.7%) and
thrombophlebitis (16%), mortality rate was (5.5%).
From the present study we concluded that age alone is not acontraindication to surgery, and proper management
of associated medical illness is mandatory as they may be more important causes of death than the surgical
disease itself, mortality may be decreased by avoiding delay of admission and proper timing & decision of
surgical intervension. |