Is There an Age Limit for Surgical Interventions?

The demographic development leads to an increase of elderly patients (> 70 years) who require surgical interventions. Nowadays, even complex surgical interventions are performed with good results in very old patients. In view of an increasing life expectancy, radical oncological surgery makes sense even in high age. High age itself is not a risk factor for perioperative morbidity and mortality, and therefore there is no age limit for surgical interventions. However, comorbidities are more frequent in old patients, and these can massively increase the risk of surgery. Thus, for the individual patient, pros and cons of surgical interventions have to be weighed up. A specialised geriatric assessment and an optimal perioperative management of the old patient can improve the results of surgical therapy.