Introduction: Aging

Abstract

Urologists see more elderly office patients than any surgical specialty other than ophthalmology. Prostate cancer is the eighth most common diagnosis of all Medicare patients. As the aged population continues to increase over the next 40 years, many of these patients will require urologic evaluation of additional conditions such as voiding difficulty, incontinence, and bladder and renal cancers. But much like pediatrics, we see changes in physiologic functions in geriatric patients that require our understanding: decreased cardiac, pulmonary, renal, and other physiologic reserves; specific problems such as living conditions and mental agility must always be included in our overview. Hence, we must adapt our practices to account for these situations, and we must organize our practice patterns to include our understanding of these special aspects of care of the elderly. This introductory chapter sets the stage for increasing your understanding of the special aspects of care of geriatric patients.