On the Result of Intensive Care in 100 Elderly Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Undergoing Non-cardiac Surgery

It is well known that the mortality of elderly patients with ischemic cardiac disease undergoing non-cardiac surgery is usuelly high,being 3.4-22.3% and occasionally even 63%.From 1964 to 1978,one hundred aged（over 60 years of age）patients suffering from coronary diseases（old myocardial infarction,severe coronary insufficiency,frequent angina pectoris and various arrythmias）associated with serious surgical conditions such as cholecystolithiasis,gastric carcinoma,bronchogenic carcinoma,etc.were admitted to our hospital and subjected to major abdominal and thoracic surgical interventions with no mortality.This relatively satisfactory result was obtained in the following ways:（1） Before operation,careful investigation and evaluation of the status of all the patients were done and appropriate treatments of cardiovascular diseases and other conditions which would give adverse influence to the surgical procedure were given.（2）During operation,the patient was put under constant surveillance of an experienced cardiologist who took care of the conditions of the heart as well as blood and fluid infusion.（3） After operation,careful cardiac monitoring was continued if necessary and various com- plications were treated in time.Hence.an important point of our success in reducing the mortality was the intimate cooperation among the cardiologist,the anaesthetist and nursing staff to allow the surgeon to concentrate upon the operation.