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Frailty and Surgery in the Elderly

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Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery

Abstract

Conventional surgical wisdom has long held that the elderly do not tolerate surgery as well as their younger counterparts. Numerous case series comparing outcomes such as morbidity and length of stay often corroborate that viewpoint. However, the older surgical population displays great heterogeneity, and that heterogeneity is not always obvious from preoperative morbidities and preoperative testing criteria. In fact, we have on numerous occasions been surprised by the elderly patient who beats the odds following surgery, and the patient who, ostensibly, should recover well, but does not.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Martin A. Makary

Authors
  1. Babak J. Orandi
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  2. Jordan M. Winter
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  3. Dorry L. Segev
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  4. Martin A. Makary
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Yale University, New Haven, 06520, Connecticut, USA

    Ronnie Ann Rosenthal

  2. Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Clarkson Ave. 450, Brooklyn, 11203, New York, USA

    Michael E. Zenilman

  3. , Chairman, Department of Surgery, Sinai Hospital, 2401 West Belvedere Avenue, Baltimore, 21215, Maryland, USA

    Mark R. Katlic

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Orandi, B.J., Winter, J.M., Segev, D.L., Makary, M.A. (2011). Frailty and Surgery in the Elderly. In: Rosenthal, R., Zenilman, M., Katlic, M. (eds) Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6999-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6999-6_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-6998-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-6999-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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