[General Anesthesia for the Thoracoscopic Lung Resection Surgery in 12 Very Elderly Patients above 85 Years of Age]

We investigated perioperative management and clinical outcome of 12 patients who were 85 years old or older and received video-assisted thoracic surgery under general anesthesia. Although all the patients had preoperative respiratory complications or cardiovascular complications, they were discharged without any additional respiratory assistance such as home oxygen therapy. Our observation suggests that it is important to evaluate the indication of anesthesia from their daily activities and pulmonary function test even if they are oldest-old. If the patient demonstrates good physical function, he or she should not be excluded from anesthesia.