Who Is Considered Elderly?
This trend is expected to continue as people continue to live longer.
Geriatrics: Every Surgeons Specialty?
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Geriatrics is the specialty of caring for adults 65 and older.
Certainly, some specialties perform more geriatric surgeries than others.
When we talk about age, the mind and body are often not in synch.
Chronological age is a simple fact.
You are __ years old.
Your car is 2 years oldthats good, right?
But the physiologic age of your car?
As a person contemplating surgery, the younger the physiologicalandchronological age, the better.
A teenager is more likely to be healthy than someone middle-aged.
Femur fracture reduction and hip arthroplasty also carried a high mortality ratio.
The American Society of Anesthesiologist’s Physical Status assessment was verified as being an accurate tool in this study.
That may mean trying medication, physical therapy, and less invasive procedures before choosing surgery.
That means, first and foremost, not making surgery decisions based solely on one factor: chronological age.
John, 85, has appendicitis.
Appendicitis is rare in the elderly, but it happens.
John needs surgery, regardless of his age, and the surgery is a life-saving procedure.
Johns age is irrelevant at this point because his life depends on the procedure.
Johns life will be extended by having the procedure and shortened dramatically without it.
This means improving the patients health in small and large ways prior to surgery.
How the patient’s health is fine-tuned varies between individuals.
Preventing problems means less physical stress on the body during and after surgery.
This typically includes life-saving and life-extending procedures but varies from group to group.
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