CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS-GRAFTING IN ELDERLY PATIENTS

To determine the benefits of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in elderly patients, we evaluated 37 patients more than 70 years old who underwent this surgical procedure and compared the results with those in 177 younger patients. Three-vessel lesions and left main lesion were seen in 78.4% and 48.6% of the elderly patients, respectively. Emergency or urgent surgery was performed on 19 patients and the number of distal anastomoses was 3.0 +/- 0.8 per patient. Left main lesion and emergency surgery were more common in elderly patients than in younger patients. Twelve patients received CABG with only a saphenous vein graft (SVG), while the remaining 25 patients had at least one arterial graft. The quality of the saphenous vein was poor to moderate in 50% of the elderly patients, while none of the arterial grafts showed significant sclerotic change. In 17 elderly patients, the ascending aorta showed sclerotic lesions and care was taken when completing proximal anastomoses of SVG to the aortic wall. After surgery, mechanical ventilation was required for an average of 29 h, which was longer than that in the younger patients. Postoperative low cardiac output, hypertension, and arrhythmia occurred in 6, 6 and 15 elderly patients, respectively. There were no early deaths, although there was one hospital death due to posttransfusion hepatitis. Thirty four elderly patients were classified as New York Heart Association functional class I or II during late follow-up maximum of 5 years) and only one had postoperative angina. The ascending aorta showed more sclerotic lesions, and the quality of the saphenous vein was worse, in the elderly patients. However, improvement after CABG was satisfactory for the elderly patients and pedicled arterial grafts appeared to decrease surgical risks even for the elderly.