[Laparoscopic findings in aged patients (author's transl)].

A group of 165 geriatric patients is compared with a control group of 114 younger patients concerning different frequency of laparoscopic diagnoses. As it was suspected from the clinical view aged patients predominently suffered from posthepatic cirrhosis and from cirrhosis of unknown origin, from recurrent cholecystitis, obstructive jaundice, metastases and carcinosis of peritoneal cavity. Younger patients much more frequently showed toxic liver damage starting from fatty liver and ending up with fatty liver cirrhosis. Persistent acute hepatitis non associated with HBSAg was scarcely seen with the aged group. It was a frequent diagnosis with the younger control group. There are explanations given for the differing endoscopic results concerning aged persons and younger control persons.