[Indication and strategy of on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting in elderly patients].

As elderly people are increasing nowadays, so is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for these older patients. The risk of on-pump CABG for elderly patients is thought to be higher than that for younger patients. We assessed 12 patients, 80 years of age or older, who underwent on-pump CABG, and compared them with 1,988 patients younger than 80 years old. In the elderly patient group, there were no in-hospital mortality and no postoperative complications. There was no statistical difference in the pre- and postoperative factors between the 2 groups except for the cardiopulmonary bypass time. We also compared the pre- and postoperative factors of 341 patients, 70 years of age or older, who underwent on-pump CABG with those of 1,659 patients under 70 years of age. The preoperative factors of elderly patients indicated that they were more severely ill than younger patients. In the analysis of postoperative factors, the rate of postoperative complications were similar between the 2 groups, despite the significantly higher rate of in-hospital mortality in the elderly group. The risk of on-pump CABG for elderly patients is higher than that for younger patients, but with careful management of the pre-, intra-, and postoperative procedures, we can perform on-pump CABG safely even in the elderly patients.