Abstract
Due to the known longer life expectancy of women, care of the geriatric female is an important and evolving topic in healthcare. Common gynecologic conditions in the elderly female include vaginitis, post-menopausal bleeding, pelvic floor disorders, and vulvar dermatitis. Less frequently encountered is a pelvic mass but since the peak incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer is in women 65 years and older, a pelvic mass is most worrisome. Gynecologic cancer surgery often involves complex and radical surgery, and many elderly women can successfully undergo surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted radiotherapy. Surgical decision-making in the geriatric female is influenced by disease outcomes, surgical approach (minimally invasive including robotic, laparoscopic and vaginal approaches, vulvar surgery, and open laparotomy), and frailty estimates. Additionally, careful consideration should be taken in the perioperative period to the older woman’s family structure since geriatric women are often the primary caregivers for others. Data on frailty in elderly women undergoing gynecologic surgery is lacking and most is extrapolated from the general geriatric population.
Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been —David Bowie
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Pradhan, T., Grimes, C., David-West, G., Marino, A., Twomey, S. (2020). Gynecologic Surgery in the Elderly. In: Latifi, R. (eds) Surgical Decision Making in Geriatrics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47963-3_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47963-3_28
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