Emergency General Surgery in Older Patients: Where Are We Now?

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of the literature around emergency general surgery in older patients. Emergency general surgery has a high mortality rate and with the population ageing at an unprecedented rate, older patients have an increased mortality risk due to their age alone. Complications are higher and older patients are more likely not to be discharged home following surgery. However, accurately predicting risk of surgery in elderly patients is very difficult. Simple measures such as concurrent comprehensive geriatric assessment with surgical assessment may help care for the older surgical patient more holistically and offer improved outcomes. With the increasing ageing population and life expectancy, there needs to be a more focus on developing comprehensive programmes for older patients undergoing emergency surgery, to ensure they do not develop complications and to reduce mortality rates.